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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919595">system.out.println.("Hello World");</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ditl_manchester/pseuds/ditl_manchester'>ditl_manchester</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Robots, Slow Burn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:36:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>25,398</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919595</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ditl_manchester/pseuds/ditl_manchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Phil moves to a new town, he finds out the local robotics team is lead by none other than the ever-charming Dan Howell. With a crumbling team and a reputation to uphold, Phil needs to dodge feelings, errors, and robot parts to find a way to make this season the best ever.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dan Howell/Phil Lester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>67</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The worst thing about this whole situation wasn’t the fact that Phil had just been ripped from his team, his robot, and his entire life as he knew it. In all honesty, the most irritating thing was the ugly wallpaper lining his new bedroom.</p><p>For whatever reason, the people who lived here before were obsessed with this gross floral brownish maroon design. It was everywhere. The walls. The kitchen counters. Even the carpet downstairs hadn’t escaped its red fate. </p><p>His room really wasn’t much, the same size, if not smaller, than his last one. This whole house really wasn’t much. His parents didn’t need all of the space that Martyn left behind when he went away for college, so they made the executive decision to leave Phil’s childhood home and transplant the family into this bizarre place.</p><p>The only good part of his bedroom was a giant oak tree blocking his view of most of the decaying neighborhood. If he couldn’t see it, he could pretend it wasn’t there and that he was still back in his home. He could pretend he was still close to friends he’s known since he started school, and that they were only a short walk down the street.</p><p>Phil’s friends seemed a world and a half away, and even though he knew he could call or video chat with them, that seemed like admitting that they really were gone. They couldn’t leave him yet seeing as they all still had to work out some bugs in the code. All of his problems had answers at least for the time being, but the one thing he couldn’t fix was this absolute god-awful wallpaper.</p><p>After getting ready to put an end to this terrible and exhausting day, he plopped onto his pillow and sleeping bag set up that would have to make do until the movers got here. Because of course, they had a delay and wouldn’t arrive for two more days, just to put the cherry on top. He grabbed his backpack filled with clothes and other essentials and pulled his laptop out. Booting it up, the doc he was looking for was already loaded from adding stuff to it earlier today. </p><p>To anyone else, it would probably look like a mess, and admittedly, it was. Different half-baked concepts were listed seemingly at random, some to be expanded on as soon as the right time rolled around, others had already lost all sense of meaning as soon as they had been written down.</p><p>The Brain Barf List, as Phil lovingly called it, was a secure jar for every idea that ever came his way. Future dog names? Page 2. Color names that should exist but don’t? Last sentence on page 54, bucko. The homework list from maths last Tuesday?  Check page 74, but if it’s not there then Philly don’t know, don’t care. You should have written it down, Sharron, not Facetime your boyfriend all class period long.</p><p>Right now though, none of that stuff mattered. Right now, all Phil wanted to do was look at the notes his team had left him. He scrolled past all the brainstorming for this year’s bot -he’d have to send that over to Peej later just in case he ended up needing it- to finally reach the point where the team had stolen his laptop. </p><p>If you’re not president by comp, you’re legally required to come back here… we’re gonna miss you, super-hacker man!!!<br/>Don’t give them all your good ideas… we’re still gonna need to have at least a chance at going to worlds back here!! You better say hi at comp or else!<br/>Hey Phil! Your new team won’t be as good as ours- but at least you guys are gonna have a working robot lmao good luck!! </p><p>New team… Phil had forgotten to look up if his new school even had a robotics club! The internet at the new house sadly hadn’t been set up yet, so he closed his laptop beside him and grabbed his phone. </p><p>A quick Google search brought him to a familiar-looking page. Team 4837. The FoxBots. Of course. Out of all the teams in the UK, it had to be the one with the nicest, most helpful, and absolutely adorable driver in the entire league. </p><p>Last year, after tons of late nights and probably half a million pizzas, Phil’s team finally made it to the finals. In the whole ten year history of their team, they had never once won a single blue banner. Their school maintained a rather impressive losing streak, never getting chosen for an alliance, never rising to the occasion, and never becoming an alliance captain. That is, until Phil took over. The last president had left the team without warning and broke off all contact, leaving a confused and struggling team for Phil to inherit. Since they were already at the bottom, the only place to go was up. He reached out to community members, other teams, and alumni. He stayed after every day as long as he could, and when he went home in the evenings, he learned how to program. He built the team that year and made some of his best friends because of it.</p><p>Then came the competition. While comp days are always a blast with bright colors, robots, and nerds everywhere, this one really stood out. The team was finally winning. They won so much in fact, that when it came time for the top teams to pick their alliances for the final matches, Phil’s team was the first one chosen. </p><p>And of course, because the universe has something either very for or very much against Phil, they had been chosen by none other than the FoxBots. </p><p>The pits, where most of the team had been watching the selection happen from, were exploding with the excitement of being able to keep competing. Phil felt like he could puke, scream, and do a couple of laps all at once. </p><p>And then it happened. Just as Phil was returning from the selection, he was in their pits. It was hard for him to blend in, being so much taller than all of Phil’s teammates. He was talking with Peej gesturing at the claw mechanism at the robot’s front, before making a joke causing both him and PJ to burst into laughter. </p><p>“Oh hey, Phil, you’re back. This is the Fox’s driver, we were just talking some strategy and I got some pointers on how NOT to combust on the field like they did last year.” PJ said laughing as Phil walked up.</p><p>“To be fair, we only partially caught on fire. Turns out, dropping metal shavings and food into the robot brain actually isn’t very good. Honestly, who would have thought? And we got another rule in the book for it so all in all, worth it, 10/10 would do again” the driver replied and began laughing again. Phil was sure the story that was being told was incredibly interesting and clever, but the only thing he could focus on was the driver’s hair. It looked so soft, Phil wanted to just reach up and run his hand through the brown curls. </p><p>Phil was suddenly pulled out of his daydream when the nameless driver looked at his phone. “Anyways, I gotta get back to my team. Apparently there’s been an emergency with the drivetrain. But I’ll see you on the field later! Don’t blow up on us!” He shouted, still smiling while half-jogging back to the FoxBots’ pit.</p><p>Phil’s cheeks began to warm up and if anyone asked, it was the excitement of the match, definitely not the way the driver was looking at him.</p><p>Soon enough, Phil’s perfect year with the perfect alliance was shattered. The emergency with the drivetrain turned out to be much more serious than anticipated and the FoxBots had to drop out of the alliance, causing Phil’s team to not be able to score enough points to move on. They ended the season with the best (and only) winning streak in their school history, and the hope that next year they might finally go further and get to go to worlds in the US.</p><p>Phil ended the year with the same hopes and achievements, but he also ended with one more thing. The thought of a certain driver and his promise to meet them back on the field.</p><p>Of all the ways to make that promise true, of course, the universe chose this one. Forcing him to spend extended amounts of time working and thinking in the same space, even though the last time Phil was in his presence for mere seconds, his brain shut down. The front page of the website confirmed his fears with a large picture of Curly Haired Driver Dude standing next to some of his teammates and their robot from last year. That same face that had helped make the best day of his life was staring back at him with the same contagious smile.</p><p>Great. How on earth was Phil supposed to troubleshoot code with his stomach constantly flip-flopping all over the shop? More importantly, how was Phil going to explain to his team that he accidentally joined the most awarded team in UK FIRST Robotics history?</p><p>There was no way a stupid crush was going to stop him from becoming the programming lead, and there was no way anything was going to stop him from becoming the robotics club president next year. </p><p>With these thoughts overturning in his mind, Phil turned to his side, facing the ugly wall and fell asleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading my very first fic ever!<br/>Come find me on Tumblr @heckdnp!!</p><p>This chapter's song is Hello World by Louie Zong</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Philip Michael Lester! You’d better get down here before you miss your first day of school!” </p><p>Phil shot up in bed. He grabbed his glasses and looked around, attempting to gain a sense of his surroundings. After a few seconds of confusion, it hit him. The new house. He wanted to fall back asleep and pretend it was all just a dream. He would wake up and this would all have been a bad dream and he would still be in his home, in his bed, not in this Victorian makeover disaster of a house.</p><p>“Phil! Hurry up! We’re really actually going to be late!”</p><p>“Yeah, Mum! I’m up. On my way down right now, just have to get my stuff together!” Phil shouted down the stairs.</p><p>Opening his eyes begrudgingly, he moved his gaze to the wall socket. Something seemed to be missing. No charger, no wires, nothing. His phone! Frantically, he began patting down his sleeping bag until he finally found it. After a few taps on the power button, he accepted his fate. He had forgotten to charge his phone that had his alarm on it and had slept in. And judging by the amount of light leaking past the tree, he had slept in by a lot.</p><p>Ripping his backpack open, he pulled out some random clothes, hoping it was something socially acceptable. He quickly tugged on a t-shirt, hoodie, and jeans, grabbed his bag, and raced downstairs. </p><p>“I was starting to wonder if you’d been left with the movers! You’re going to have to eat your breakfast on the way there if you want a ride. I can’t be late today, especially after taking so much time off next week to fix this disgusting carpet!” Phil’s mum said, moving towards the door and motioning towards the living room floor.</p><p>“Sorry, mum. I fell asleep early last night and forgot to plug in my phone. By the way, have you seen my schedule? I swore I put it on the table last night…” Phil began erratically moving tools and papers out of the way, somehow making even more of a mess.</p><p>“I have it right here, dear. Now we really must get going. Grab your breakfast and I’ll meet you in the car!” The door slammed behind her, making Phil jump. This house was too loud and too empty. His old house was filled with memories on every corner. This one was just filled with sadness and ugly red.</p><p>Phil sighed. His day could only go up from here. Grabbing his breakfast and running to the car, he mentally tallied up all the reasons why they never should’ve moved here. </p><p>After spending the whole ride listening to Whitney Houston (as per his mum’s choice) he decided he didn’t ‘want to dance with somebody’ he just wanted to get to school on time. Phil hopped out of the car just as the warning bell began to ring. There was no way he could avoid being late now, but at least it was only study-hall. Phil waved goodbye to his mum and went to start searching for his class. </p><p>Two wrong classrooms and a flight of stairs later, Phil stepped into his homeroom. The teacher was sitting at the front of the class, looking bored as she scrolled through her phone.</p><p>“Um, excuse me, miss. Am I in the right place?” Phil said approaching the desk slowly. “I think I’m supposed to be in room 219 for homeroom? Um… Mrs. Smith’s class?”</p><p>The teacher looked up from her phone. Raising a single eyebrow, she replied, “Really? I didn’t hear I was getting a new student. Whatever. The class is already full so there aren’t any more desks. I’ll send something to the main office, but I guess for now you can sit wherever you can find a spot.”</p><p>She shrugged her shoulders and went back to her phone. The message was loud and clear: I don’t know and I don’t care. You’re on your own, kid.</p><p>Great. Phil scanned the room. She was right, there weren’t any more seats open but there was a counter in the back that would have to do for now. It looked like there were at least wall sockets so he could get a little charge on his phone in the meantime. </p><p>He squeezed through the sea of students, but just as he reached his destination, he tripped over a girl’s shoes, did an embarrassing half-scream half-squeak, and fell into the guy behind her’s lap. </p><p>Laughs and judging looks were thrown his way as everyone turned to stare at him. His cheeks burned. Nothing quite introduced you to a new school better than showing off just how uncoordinated you were. He quickly stood up and prayed to whatever god was in charge of highschool embarrassment to stop following him around. All in all, this day so far was definitely something to record in the Brain Barf List. More specifically, page 45, traumatic events. </p><p>Eventually, the laughs died down and Phil finally reached the back counter. He needed his phone and laptop or he was going to go crazy. Phil understood technology. It did only what you told it to, and would never judge you for any unconventional habits or faces or anything. Highschoolers, on the other hand, were as unpredictable as the universe. Always changing, always mysterious, and usually containing an all-consuming void of everything good. </p><p>He set his backpack on the counter and began rifling through it for the second time that day, looking for his chargers. </p><p>“Hey, this might sound odd, but do I know you from somewhere? You look really familiar and I can’t place it.”</p><p>Phil plugged in his laptop and phone before glancing backward at the voice that was addressing him. His eyes widened and it was at that moment, that he knew, this was the worst, most embarrassing, most terrible first day to ever exist. </p><p>The person whose lap he had just fallen into was none other than Sweet Curly-haired Driver Boy, who was now looking at him with softest big brown eyes. </p><p>He stared at him for a while until Phil suddenly remembered that conversations didn’t happen telepathically. “Oh, sorry! Um, it’s robotics you know me from… You guys chose us for an alliance last year before you had to drop out. We were the 8589 RoboReds. A small team, but we try.” Phil smiled while reaching back to rub his neck. The chance that this guy remembers their mediocre-at-best team, especially since Phil knows he deals with way-beyond-advanced teams, is almost slim to none.</p><p>“That’s it! I remember now!” His eyes lit up as he started talking faster. “I was there when I heard the news about our robot, and you’re Phil, right? 8589’s captain? And programmer, judging by the number of stickers on that laptop.”</p><p>“Yep, that’s me! Programmer and president extraordinaire.” How on earth did this guy remember Phil’s name? Maybe he did that for all the teams in the area. Phil’s seen stranger things from robotics kids. </p><p>Driver Boy smiled and did a little half-wave. “I’m Dan. FoxBot team captain, drive team lead, build team lead, and generally-everything-that-no-one-else-wants-to-do lead. What are you doing here then? Aren’t you guys from up north?”</p><p>“Yeah, we are. I actually just moved here, and we’re just a school team, so I’m technically not a RoboRed anymore. Wow, I… I’ve never said that out loud before. That’s new. And terrifying.”</p><p>Dan laughed and Phil’s heart skipped a beat. </p><p>“Well, Phil, if you’re as good at robotics as you are falling, I think you’d be a great addition to our team here.”</p><p>Oh right. Phil had forgotten for a second that this was the worst day ever. Only he could manage to fall right into both a new team and a guy’s arms at the same time while still maintaining an astronomical amount of self-humiliation. Despite the fact that he knew he would never be able to live this meeting down if he joined the team, Phil knew what he wanted. </p><p>“I’d love to join! When do you guys meet?”</p><p>“After school, every day, from 3-6. We meet in the metals lab in the back of the school but, uh, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you don’t know where that is.” </p><p>“Definitely not.” This school was huge. There was no way Phil was going to be able to get to his next class, much less to a random place at the back of the school.</p><p>“Do you think you could find your way back here then, at the end of the day? I can meet you here and help you so you don’t get lost or anything, sorry, I mean… that probably sounds weird.” Dan suddenly became very interested in his shoes and started speaking rapidly. “I don’t think you’re, like, incapable or anything, I just wanted… to, I don’t know-”</p><p>“That’d be really nice, Dan. Thank you.” Dan stopped and looked back up at Phil. His hair still looked as soft as the day at the competition, a little less sweaty and a little less unruly, but it still paired very well with the adorable smile across his face. </p><p>“It’s a date, then. I can introduce you to the team and everything. We don’t get many new people anymore, so it’ll be nice to have some fresh thoughts on our side.”</p><p>“Good thing my brain is as fresh as a garden picked lettuce! I’m just the salad you guys needed for a well-balanced robot diet!” Phil paused. He had not meant to say that. That doesn’t even make sense. Robots don’t eat lettuce. Why couldn’t his brain wait to show its randomness after he establishes some friends?</p><p>Although, much to Phil’s surprise, Dan starts laughing. “Phil, I think you’re going to fit right in. That was the best thing I’ve heard all month.” Once he calmed down he looked over to the clock on the wall. “Oh, shoot. Looks like we only have a minute left. You might want to pack up your bag there. What class do you have next?”</p><p>Phil started shoving his things back into his bag. “Um, Calc with Breezus. Room 205.” </p><p>Suddenly, the bell signifying the end of the class rang. In near-perfect synchronization, the entire class rose and began attempting to push each other out of the way to leave first. Everyone except Dan. He was still looking at Phil with those big brown doe eyes of his.</p><p>“Perfect. I’m going just down the hall from there. I can show you if you want.” </p><p>“Yeah, just let me get my stuff together.” Phil zipped up his backpack and followed Dan out of the room.</p><p>Once they were in the hallway, they fell into a comfortable silence, sneaking glances at each other every time they thought the other wasn’t looking. </p><p>Eventually, Dan stopped at a door that led into a room that looked just as uninviting as the last one. </p><p>“I suppose this is where I leave you?” Phil said, looking at Dan.</p><p>“It is. Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say goodnight til it be ‘morrow. Or the end of the day, same thing.” Dan’s eyes searched Phil’s face. For recognition or embarrassment, the world may never know.</p><p>Phil laughed and grabbed Dan’s arm. “You never told me you were a theatre nerd too! I’ll see you after school, Romeo.”</p><p>“See ya, Phil.” </p><p>As Phil walked into his class, he could have sworn Dan was holding his arm where he had just touched. Either way, Phil couldn’t wait for school to end.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!!<br/>Song for this chapter: The Middle by Jimmy Eat World</p><p>Come say hi on tumblr @heckdnp</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The moment the final bell rang for the day, Phil was already out of his seat, moving towards the classroom door. First days are always hard, especially in the last year of high school, but this one was about to become one of the best. </p><p>After Dan had left Phil to his own devices, he couldn’t get his brain to focus the rest of the day. Rather than English or maths, his thoughts replayed the conversation with Dan over and over. </p><p>Firstly, the idea that he was invited to be on the Fox’s team was insane. Ever since his first year in robotics, he’s always admired them. He remembered the first time he saw them at comp. They all seemed so skilled, yet still down to earth. </p><p>Their robot had looked like it was from a professional team at NASA. Their programming team was at least five people strong with matching laptops that were a handful of years newer than anything from the RoboReds. The electronics team had made one of the cleanest wiring boards Phil had ever seen. Most teams ended the weekend with a wiring board that looked like zip-tie spaghetti, but theirs always managed to stay clean and clearly labeled. The build team had managed to create a beautiful yet functional robot that year that had tied into that year’s classic video game theme. </p><p>But the thing that surprised Phil the most was how friendly they all were. When they went to scout out alliances with the other teams, the Foxes always managed to connect in a way that seemed anything but artificial. They didn’t hand out candy or other cheesy things to convince people to like them. Instead, they asked genuine questions and made conversations. They talked like they were just kids who wanted to make friends with people who were like them. Despite their amazing robot essentially giving them a free pass to be as picky and rude as they wanted to be, they appreciated each team for what they were.</p><p>Meanwhile, Phil’s first-year team hated talking to people and had a robot that always seemed to be broken and sad. Don’t get him wrong, Phil had loved that year’s team to death. He had felt more like himself at robotics than he had anywhere else. He felt like he was fulfilling his purpose, learning to program and being part of creating something that was amazing. </p><p>That being said, the Reds consistently had either the robot not built all the way before a match, or the code not working. Or sometimes even both. Maybe it had been their lack of mentors to teach them how to code and build effectively. Or maybe it was the older kids giving up and not caring if the robot did well. Either way, Phil knew that when he would lead the team, he would lead them like the FoxBots, with collaboration and acceptance, not with brashness and rejection.</p><p>And when those kids eventually did throw the team into Phil and PJ’s hands, they left and made sure to cut off all ties. Although Phil disagreed with the way he gained leadership of the team, he never regretted it. He had a clean slate to build a foundation on. He would learn from the best and adapt their methods into how the team was built and lead from then on. When he saw the FoxBots, Phil didn’t just see another impressive team with a massive budget and unobtainable talent. He saw something he could become. A team that worked together. A team that took the advice of others. A team that took risks. So that’s what he built. And it ended up being strong enough to be carried on down to the next person while not completely collapsing in on itself.</p><p>But becoming a part of the team that had inadvertently directed his whole mindset towards leadership that he had surrounded his life around? That was a near ungraspable concept. </p><p>The other part of the morning’s conversation, however, Phil tried his best not to think about. The fact that Dan had somehow remembered his name and his face, even though Phil barely had enough time to introduce himself properly, completely baffled him. There was no way he went around memorizing all the captains, which left only one other idea that even the concept made Phil blush every time he thought about it. </p><p>But right now, all of that was too much. Phil needed to be focused on impressing the team. As he walked back towards Mrs. Smith’s dusty classroom, he thought about all the things he brought to the table and he could do for the team. Admittedly, there wasn’t much he could think of. They just seemed so perfect already. But Dan had invited him, so at least he saw some sort of potential in him. </p><p>He rounded the final hallway corner and just as promised, Dan stood there leaning on a wall and playing on his phone. Then, as if feeling his presence, Dan looked up right at Phil, smiled, and waved him over. </p><p>“Hey, Phil! How was your day? Ready for some robots?” Dan pushed off the wall and started walking, motioning for Phil to follow.</p><p>“Boring, and that’s a dumb question. When am I not ready for robots?” Phil replied, moving faster to catch up.</p><p>“Fair point. Are you ready to meet the rest of the team? I was talking to them about you during lunch and they’re super excited,” he added, as they began descending down the large staircase. “We haven’t had any experienced programmers in while so I think you’re gonna impress them no matter what.” </p><p>Phil suddenly stopped, causing Dan to nearly trip as he turned back, confused. “You haven’t had what? Did I hear that right?”</p><p>Something crossed over Dan’s face. “Yeah. We’ve been kind of winging it for the last year or so. Reusing old code and all that. That’s actually the reason why we had to drop out of the alliance last year. Bry was trying to fix some drive issues and broke our motors by accident.” </p><p>“Why didn’t you guys ask for help?”</p><p>Dan looked towards the ground. “I don’t know, pride or something. Asking for help when we were the ones who were giving it seemed awkward,” he looked back up to meet Phil’s eyes. “Whatever it was, it was stupid. We shouldn’t have put your guys’ season on the line to keep an image. I’m really sorry, Phil.”</p><p>Phil reached out to grab his arm. “It’s okay, I get it. Sure, it wasn’t right and frankly, it was a jerk move, but it looks like you learned your mistake which is more than a lot of teams can say. Either way, it’s all done and over with,” Phil let go and grinned. “Plus, I heard your programming team just got a whole lot more experienced. You just got the amazing and legendary coding extraordinaire, Phil Lester himself.”</p><p>Dan smiled. “We did, didn’t we? Well, let’s go introduce you to everyone Mr. Amazing. We’re almost there.” He then turned around and continued walking with Phil following close behind.</p><p>When they finally arrived in the shop, an exasperated short blonde girl and a slightly ruffed looking guy with blue hair were stood by a giant whiteboard littered in colorful marker. About five slightly younger kids sat on various surfaces around the room looking rather amused at the ordeal unfolding in front of them.</p><p>“Norman, no matter what you say, we are not putting a flamethrower on the robot. I don’t care what the rule book may or may not say, it’s too much weight. Plus, how would we even light it?”</p><p>“I told you already, Bry! We could put a lighter on it! Or wait, I actually think that might be against the rules. Ok maybe not a flamethrower, but what about a grappling hook? If we attach it right, we could name the robot after Spiderman! I don’t know about you guys but Spiderbot just screams judges award.”</p><p>Phil giggled and looked over to Dan, who looked like someone had just slapped him in the face. </p><p>“It also screams ‘I’m very dangerous and going to maim someone.’ I thought you guys were coming up with claw ideas while I grabbed Phil?” Dan walked over to Bry and Norman and grabbed the markers from them. “Oh yeah, by the way,” he pointed to Phil. “this is Phil, programmer supreme and all-around cool guy.” A jumbled chorus of greetings filled the room. “He just moved here from the RoboReds, so our programming should actually work this year.”</p><p>“Bold of you to assume any programming ever works,” Phil replied, laughing. He walked over to the rest of the group and sat down on a stool. “Is this everyone? It seemed like there were a lot more people at comp last year.”</p><p>Bry, Dan, and Norman all looked at each other, seemingly participating in a psychic conversation.</p><p>Apparently Dan lost the argument as he was the one to finally break the silence. “Actually Phil, you know how I was telling you about our, um, issues, from last year? Well, basically, we’ve been having those kinds of problems for a while now. Um, Norman. You were there when it started, you explain it.”</p><p>Norman glared at Dan. “As much as I hate to admit it, Dan’s right,” he looked back over to Phil. “It was three years ago when the year 13s left and I was a year 10. A whole bunch of them had parents that were super involved and super tech-savvy. They gave us a ton of funding and mentor support. Like, a lot a lot. So for those four years or so, we started winning. We made it to worlds in Houston every year and won the chairman’s and the judge’s awards at every event we went to. So nearly everyone in the school joined. Kids who had never held a hammer and never programmed anything suddenly became these talented engineers and designers.”</p><p>“But that’s when it all went wrong. The older kids left and since we didn’t have those connections anymore, we couldn’t figure out what to do. Then, the year after the last of them left, the team began falling apart at the seams. Our sponsors were gone, so we couldn’t keep buying things. There weren’t any mentors so we had no idea how to turn our ideas into reality. And it probably would have been okay if most of the year 11s and 12s stayed, but then Breezus started the drones club this year, they all thought that was better and left.” He rolled his eyes and moved to a stool next to Phil.</p><p>“So to answer your question, Phil, we haven’t actually known how to build robots for a while now. To be completely transparent, we’ve been guessing and reusing ideas and parts for years. It may look like we know what we’re doing but if you look at our track record, we have no clue. Two years ago, we made a copycat robot and managed to get to worlds. Where we then promptly self-combusted on the field in the first round. Got us a rule in the rule book for it too. Who knew that you shouldn’t drill metal things over a wiring board? We sure as hell didn’t. Last year, without a coder we elected Bryony to the position. A lot of good that did us too–”</p><p>“–To be fair,” she interrupted, “I tried my best and had no idea running it would fry the motors.”</p><p>“Yeah, no kidding. None of us did,” Dan said as he picked up the conversation. “Anyways, what we’re trying to say, Phil, this team is cursed. Something always goes wrong and we’re never prepared for it. But from what we’ve heard about you, you’re someone who’s brought back a team from the brink, and I think it’s not far off to say that’s the kind of hope we need.” He looked so vulnerable, nothing like the fearless leader Phil had seen at events.</p><p>Phil took a moment to let this information sink in. The FoxBots needed him. Dan needed him. They had gone from the top to the bottom in a second and have been left reeling from the impact. They were a challenge of magnitudes like none other. </p><p>It was a good thing Phil couldn’t back down from a challenge. </p><p>“Sounds like we have our work cut out for us then. When can we start?” Phil smiled. He was going to make sure this year was amazing, and nothing, not even a cursed team, could stop him.</p><p>Dan glanced up at the large red digital clock. “I think today, all we have time left for is some small team brainstorming. But we can get started on the epic reclamation story tomorrow.” </p><p>They all broke into teams of three and moved to their separate corners of the shop. Phil ended up with Dan and a kid who introduced themself as Ducky. </p><p>For the next hour and a half, Phil really did try his best to focus on researching concepts and ideas of things they could incorporate into the robot, but with Dan sitting next to him occasionally elbowing him to show him something, all Phil could think about was how adorable he was when he was excited. Did he always have that dimple when he smiled? This close, Phil could see the little freckles that were dotted across his face. It reminded Phil of cinnamon sugar. </p><p>By the end of the club, everyone had come up with some concept sketches. Dan explained to Phil that they wouldn’t choose a final design until later that week and before that each team would make prototypes to show the pros and cons of the idea. </p><p>It was then, as everyone began packing up their stuff and filing out of the shop, that Dan grabbed Phil’s elbow just as he was about to leave and whispered in his ear, “Wait for me.”</p><p>So as Dan turned off lights and made sure things were locked, Phil waited. Five minutes later, Dan grabbed his bag and headed towards the door where Phil was standing. </p><p>“Thanks. I don’t like locking up alone. Since there aren’t any windows in here it gets really dark and it freaks me out.”</p><p>“It’s no problem really. I’m walking home anyway so I’m not exactly in a hurry.”</p><p>They left the building, doubling back to make sure all the doors were locked behind them. Phil walked with Dan towards the student parking lot until Dan stopped at a little red car.</p><p>“Do you want a ride? If you walk, you can’t live that far so it wouldn’t really be a problem.” Dan said motioning to the car.</p><p>“Sure, thank you,” Phil replied, moving to the other side of the car to get in. “I live over on B street, by the way.”</p><p>“That’s where I live too! Did you guys move into the blue house with the big tree? When I was a kid, I always thought it’d be so much fun to climb it.” Dan started up the car, waiting for Phil to buckle his seat belt before moving.</p><p>“That’s the one. The tree is right outside my window. Perfect for all the sneaking out I totally do.”</p><p>Dan gave Phil a look and started driving. They fell into a comfortable silence until Dan pulled up to Phil’s house.</p><p>“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Dan asked.</p><p>“Definitely. There’s no way you’re getting rid of me now, Howell.” Phil replied as he hopped out. They smiled at each other for a second. Neither of them wanted to leave, but they both knew they would have to eventually. </p><p>Phil ended up being the one to pull away as his mom shouted at him from the door to come inside. </p><p>“Bye Dan, see ya later.”</p><p>“Bye Phil.”</p><p>With that, Phil faced back towards the house he would learn to call home. This was going to be the best year ever, and nothing, not a team curse or ugly red wallpaper could stop him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Say hi on tumblr @heckdnp!!</p><p>Chapter song: This is the Day by The The</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Whoever invented alarm clocks should receive international capital punishment. But, Phil had to admit, it was better than the alternative from yesterday. </p><p>Phil sat up from his sleeping bag (the movers wouldn’t be there until tomorrow) and patted the surrounding area for his glasses. It was kind of dangerous to put them where he could very possibly roll onto them in the middle of the night and break them, but what can he say? He liked living on the wild side. Eventually, he found them and put them on to, once again, reveal his world-class view of the wallpaper and his laptop that was still sitting open from his brainstorming session late last night. Luckily, Late Night Phil had remembered to plug everything in so he wouldn’t have to be attached to a wall for half the day again. </p><p>He begrudgingly sat up and rubbed his eyes. At least he had his first class with Dan so he wouldn’t have to wait to show him his ideas. Even from an objective point of view, Phil had to admit that these ideas were pretty cool. </p><p>With the slight distraction that may or may not have been named Dan yesterday during the meeting, Phil didn’t really accomplish much. Instead of deciding if they should go with mecanum or normal wheels, Phil spent his time deciding which side of Dan’s face he liked more (the right, most definitely, it had the dimple). </p><p>But as soon as he got home, he remembered that he had a job to do. The Foxes needed help, and they needed it bad. Phil knew from experience that trying to bring back a team was near impossible without fresh ideas and outlooks. But lucky for them, Phil had been storing new crazy ideas for years. </p><p>Every year as soon as the game was released, Phil spent the next handful of days scouring the web for ideas and interpretations that he could develop, change, and create entire designs out of. He watched every Robot In Three Days vlog on YouTube, he cross-referenced with old games, and he tried looking at every game piece from a different angle. And eventually, after all of that, he created his final designs. </p><p>Currently, with both the original RoboRed and the new FoxBot ideas that he revisited last night, the Brain Barf List had a total of four complete designs. Each had their own specialties, ranging from completing different pieces of the game to a full out defense tank bot. The RoboReds took one of the game piece ideas to change and make their own, so that left three choices full of fresh ideas for the Foxes. Even if they didn’t want to use his ideas, they still acted as a good reference point to what other teams might be building. Needless to say, Phil was pretty pumped to show off his ideas to Dan and the rest of the team.</p><p>With that thought, he got out of the sleeping bag, finally happy with moving here. </p><p>He got ready and was about to leave his room for the day, but then spotted his old Reds hoodie laying on the floor. It felt right that he should pay homage to his old team that helped get him here. Without their support of his unconventional ideas and risk-taking, he might’ve never become the person he is today. He walked over and pulled it on. It still smells like burnt metal and gas. Today was going to be a great day.</p><p>Since Phil had managed to wake up at the right time, he also was able to get to school early. When he walked into the room, it thankfully, was empty except for a handful of students scattered around the room. He walked over to his counter spot from yesterday and sat down.</p><p>Not even five minutes later, Dan walked in. The minute he saw Phil, his face lit up. </p><p>“Hey, Phil! You’re here early. I’m assuming you finally figured out your way around here?” Dan grinned at Phil while he sat down in his seat. He then stopped and looked at Phil, looked around the class, and looked back at Phil, confused. “Why are you sitting on a counter? There’s literally nothing but open seats.” </p><p>Phil looked down as if just now realizing where he was. “Oh, I suppose I could sit in a real chair,” he looked back up at Dan and smiled. “But what’s the fun in that?”</p><p>Dan shrugged. “Fair enough. You’re just so unbelievably quirky, Phil,” he said in a weird goose voice before erupting into a fit of giggles.</p><p>“Oi, shut it, you!” Phil laughed, playfully pushing on Dan’s shoulder. “Speaking of being so quirky, guess who spent all of last night making robot designs for the team? I really think some of it’s my best work. Do you want a preview or do you want to be completely blown away with everyone else?” he said, grabbing his laptop out.</p><p>“I think I’ve earned a sneak peek, leading the team for the past three years or so. There’s no way it’ll be better than what I’ve come up with though- but you’re gonna have to wait until later for that.”</p><p>“Don’t diss my genius until you’ve been blinded by it, Howell.” Phil pulled up his laptop, searching through the tabs until he found the one with the concepts and rough CAD sketches. Eventually, he came across the blocky 3D shapes and turned his laptop around so he could show Dan properly. </p><p>“Alright. So. This, my good friend, is a robot.” Dan crossed his arms, rolled his eyes, and scoffed. “Now I know what you’re going to say, ‘Phil there’s no way that’s a robot! That’s a bunch of blocks in a computer screen!’ And I want you to know, that is exactly right. But what I’m about to say is going to blow your mind. You can build this. In real life. Wow. I know. Crazy, right?”</p><p>“But that’s not the best part. No, the best part is that this robot will actually win competitions,” Phil smirked, looking to Dan for a reaction. Meanwhile, the bell around them chimed, signaling first period had started.</p><p>Dan looked at him with the most unamused face Phil had ever seen. Phil took that as his cue to get to the point.</p><p>“Ok, fine. The main features of my design are the claw/lift/shooter combo, the hook mechanism, and the overall height of my design to get under the Wheel of Fortune faster.” He handed the laptop to Dan so he could get a better look. </p><p>Dan looked at it for a minute before scrunching up his eyebrows. He clicked the mouse around a couple of times before looking back to Phil, who couldn’t seem to keep still. </p><p>“The Wheel of Fortune?” he replied cynically.</p><p>Phil wasn’t quite sure what had made Dan’s face and attitude suddenly turn sour. “Yeah. That’s what everyone on the Reddit’s calling it. The spinny wheel thing that we have to match colors with to move on. This one’s a scoring idea so it doesn’t really interact with it at all, except moving under it for the fastest route to the scoring zone. I do have another idea that does interact with it if you guys are really bent on doing that, but I think our best opportunity lies with the points.”</p><p>Dan shook his head and handed Phil back the laptop. </p><p>“I don’t know, Phil. These look pretty ambitious. We’re only a team of ten, remember? I know we wanted some ideas, but we need to take it with baby steps. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”</p><p>“Maybe not, but it only took a day to burn it down. Look, Dan, I know it’s ambitious. But it isn’t anything you guys aren’t already capable of. I mean, you guys build a copycat bot of a world ranking team. It doesn’t matter if that team was yourselves, you still built it. And it’s not like you guys can’t take my design and run with it. I’m by no means perfect and neither is my design.” Phil set the laptop down beside him and crossed his arms.</p><p>“I guess, but I’m still not sure. Maybe don’t bring these up to the team quite yet. I think it’s something like this that’s going to scare them off. Let’s see what everyone else came up with first, and maybe, we’ll see, if we can incorporate one of the ideas into the one we come up with, yeah?”</p><p>Phil almost could’ve seen the lie fall out of Dan’s mouth. For whatever reason, he hated his ideas. Saw one out of three and decided they either weren’t good enough for the team, or the team’s not good enough for them, both of which statements Phil knew for a fact were wrong. </p><p>But instead of calling Dan out on it, Phil just smiled and changed the conversation. He wasn’t looking for an argument right here in the middle of an over-filled, under-funded, dirty classroom.</p><p>“So, what do you guys do for fun around here besides build robots?” </p><p>And just like that, all the stress visibly left Dan’s shoulders, and he was back to his goofy smile. </p><p>“Oh, you know. Rebel teenage stuff. But do you want to know a secret?” he motioned for Phil to lean towards him. He smelt sweet. Was it raspberries? Or maybe blueberries. </p><p>“I’m actually not a rebel. I honestly don’t know what kids get up to around here.” Dan whispered before leaning back.</p><p>Phil sat back up and laughed while rolling his eyes. “You’re such a dork. Really though, what do you do during the offseason? Not gonna lie, this place seems pretty dull.”</p><p>“You couldn’t be more right, Philly. This is pretty much the worst place to live if you’re into hanging out. Although come to think about it, there actually is one place that’s not a complete snooze fest. If you want, I’ll take you there after robotics today, but it has to stay a surprise.”</p><p>“That sounds pretty ominous. How do I know you’re not an axe murderer?”</p><p>“Considering I have regular open access to a wide variety of saws and other bladed power tools, I don’t think I’d be an axe murderer. If I were you, I’d be more worried about me being a bandsaw murderer. Or maybe a chop saw murderer. Both have much more style than an axe.” Suddenly, the bell rang out signaling the end of first period. They both grabbed their stuff and started heading towards their next classes together.</p><p>Maybe it was rude of Phil to not keep up the conversation, but all he could think about was how synchronized their paces were. Most of the time when Phil walked with someone, either they were running to keep up with him, or he had to slow down to not leave them in his dust. But walking with Dan seemed just right. Granted, they were both giants at around six feet, so their legs were actually evenly matched for once, but it just seemed cool for some reason. </p><p>Minus the slight altercation in the morning, Dan just seemed to fit perfectly with Phil. It was almost like the universe had created the recent string of coincidences just so they might get to be friends. And maybe, just maybe, the small irrational part of Phil’s brain hoped they could become more one day.</p><p>As they arrived at Phil’s next period, Dan turned to Phil. “So, what do you say? Do you want to take a chance with a possible power tool killer and go with me somewhere after robotics?”</p><p>Phil laughed before replying, “I’d love to. Plus, if you are a murderer then I’ll get a real crime podcast based after me! It’s really a win-win situation for me.”</p><p>“Sounds great! I love true crime things. Well, I’ll see you around, Phil.” He started walking away before turning back and asking, “I’ll see you by Ms. Smith’s after school again, right?”</p><p>“Sure! See you later Dan,” Phil replied. </p><p>The rest of the morning, despite all the good things from their conversation, Phil couldn’t get Dan’s weird reaction to his designs out of his head. It just didn’t make sense. Why would he be so scared of change if that’s what he asked for? </p><p>Eventually, during lunch, Phil decided to call the one person he knew would have some advice for him, PJ.</p><p>“Hey, man! What’s up? How’s the new school? You aren’t calling in the middle of the day because they’re being horrible, are you? What happened? Did they serve you bad sweet potato fries? Or worse, do they not have sweet potato fries? Because if they don’t I’m going to have to have a word with their—”</p><p>“—Peej. I appreciate the concern, but I’m not calling to talk about fries. I actually wanted some advice. I’m having some robot problems, but not like you’d think.”</p><p>“What team did you end up with? I don’t think you ever told me.”</p><p>“You’re never going to believe it. It’s the FoxBots.”</p><p>“No way. You’re kidding, that’s amazing! What’s it like being a winner?”</p><p>“Nothing like you’d think, Peej. It’s bad here. Like, they’re actually struggling. They hid it well at comp but apparently the team has really gone down lately.”</p><p>Slowly, Phil brought PJ up to speed with the Foxes and their issues. He explained how they lost all of their support and were left high and dry in the time that should’ve been their peak. </p><p>“So, basically, what I’m getting here and- tell me if I’m wrong Phil- they’re basically us two years ago. Just with a bigger, better-stocked shop.”</p><p>“Yep. Pretty much. But that’s not even the problem. They asked me for help, right? Some new insight and fresh thinking. So I tried that. Last night I came up with a couple more designs that I think have really good, really advanced features. It’s all stuff that would be really high-risk low-reward for anyone else in the area to make, but I’ve seen what this team can do. It would be nothing for them.”</p><p>“Yeah? So did they take you up on them?”</p><p>“Nope. I was talking with Dan this morning, you know him. The driver and build lead who was talking to you right before they had to drop out?”</p><p>“The one you had googly eyes towards the whole weekend? Yeah, I noticed. He seems cool.”</p><p>“First of all, you saw nothing. Second of all, we’ve really hit it off. He’s been nice, helping me out with the new school and everything and he introduced me to the team. He was the one who asked me for help, but when I tried helping this morning, he completely shut me down. He basically said that my designs are too advanced and that I shouldn’t even offer them to the rest of the team.”</p><p>“Really? That’s rude.”</p><p>“Yeah. So I don’t know what to do. If I introduce my ideas, he might get mad and I’ll lose my only friend here. On the other hand, if I don’t, I’m not keeping my promise and doing my best to help them improve.”</p><p>“You know what? Do it. I hate to break it to you, Phil, but teenage boys that you like and want to impress aren’t the end-all-be-all for what you should do. If from what you saw yesterday, they need something and you’re ready to give it, then give it. Dan doesn’t control the team no matter what rank he holds. It’s a team for a reason. Collaboration and community are the points of this thing. If the rest of the team agrees with him, then that’s that. But if they don’t, he’s going to have to learn to share.”</p><p>“Thanks, PJ. That really means a lot. How’d you get to be so smart?”</p><p>“I had a really awesome friend. You might know him actually. He always dyes his hair weird colors and says the most bizarre things. But the best part about him is that he always believes in everybody, even if they’re a ragtag group of nerds who like robots who have never won a match in their lives. Phil, you really mean a lot more than you think. Just be yourself over there and they won’t be able to not love you.”</p><p>“Will do Peej, will do. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”</p><p>“You’d better. Lunch is ending, gotta go, but text me how it goes. Bye!” </p><p>So as the disconnect sound rang in his ear, Phil looked down at his hoodie and remembered where he came from. Backing down’s never been his style, and he isn’t going to start now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Come say hi on tumblr <a href="https://tumblr.com/heckdnp">@heckdnp!!!</a></p><p>Chapter song is <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1PmaWG47wJRCIOM9v8Bauo?si=L6LfYx9RSCqbh5bfLbwYeA">Hypocrite by Cage The Elephant</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Once again, Dan was playing on his phone, leaning against Ms. Smith’s classroom. Yesterday, he spotted Phil within a few seconds, but today, he was so focused on whatever he was doing that he hadn’t noticed Phil at all.</p><p>Curious as to what was taking up so much of his attention, Phil approached as inconspicuously as possible, until he was standing in Dan’s personal space. </p><p>“What are you up to?”</p><p>Dan jumped back and held his hand over his heart. As soon as he registered that it was only Phil, he laughed and relaxed. “The hell was that? You nearly killed me!”</p><p>Matching his grin, Phil replied, “I was only curious what you were so interested in. You didn’t notice me walking up at all,” he stepped closer to Dan and tried looking at his phone. “Does it have to do with where we’re going after robotics? Is it something exciting?” Dan gently pushed him away. </p><p>“It might, but you’re going to have to wait. That’s the whole point of it being a surprise, bub.”</p><p>Phil rolled his eyes. “Fine. But let’s hurry to robotics. Someone told me that they had some good ideas this morning, and they refused to share them with me.”</p><p>“Guilty. But these ideas are going to blow your mind. And we should actually be able to make them unlike someone else’s unrealistic vision,” he said, nudging Phil’s elbow as he began walking to the shop. Phil stood there, dumbfounded. Clearly, Dan didn’t realize how much those designs meant to Phil and that he was not joking about with them but rather, really honestly trying to help the team with new ideas.</p><p>Phil shook his head and jogged to catch up to Dan, who was already halfway down the staircase. </p><p>When they arrived at the shop, everyone was at their respective corners, working hard. The group with Bry and Norman looked like they were designing something flashy and loud, although, it was hard to see what the functionality was right off the bat. Among the other two groups was a design that looked very similar to Phil’s defense tank and then a rather tall robot that did not match this year’s game at all. </p><p>They walked over to their corner where Ducky was already writing some things on the whiteboard.</p><p>“What’s up, Duck? Are these ideas?” Dan questioned.</p><p>Ducky turned around. “Oh, hey Dan, Phil. I was writing down some concepts I saw on the web last night.”</p><p>Phil approached the whiteboard. “Combining the scoring parts into one mechanism. That’s a good idea,” he looked over to where Dan was standing, arms crossed. “Sounds familiar for some reason, don’t you think so, Dan?”</p><p>Dan glared at him before looking back to the whiteboard. “I don’t mean to shoot you down, Duck, but combining all the features into one will mess up the weight distribution, right? I was thinking we could do a more spread out design. One where we’ll have more room to load the balls into the system.”</p><p>He began sketching it out. “You see, it has the input on this side, uses a conveyor belt to transfer it, and then the other side can shoot it. We could also try to add a motor near the top to run the color wheel if we have time. I think trying sensors would be too much but if we could somehow rig up a camera, I could just do it all manually.”</p><p>In theory, it was a good idea. But spreading all of the components out would make it more likely for either the robot or the balls to get stuck. There was also the issue of space and how they could fit all of this in a relatively small rectangle. </p><p>“Hey, Dan?”</p><p>“Yeah, Duck?”</p><p>“You know this won’t work, right? There’s nowhere to put the wiring board.”</p><p>“I thought we’d figure that out as we went along.”</p><p>“There’s also nowhere for motors.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Phil looked at Dan. His face was all scrunched up and his arms were folded across his chest. </p><p>He looked like he was making his mind up about something before finally blurting out, “Phil has some good ideas. He showed me this morning.” He looked at Phil. There was a silent apology in his eyes. He was extending an olive branch. All Phil had to do was grab it.</p><p>And grab it he did. </p><p>“Alright. Let me get my laptop out. I have some CAD files you guys might want to take a look at.”</p><p>After a few minutes of fumbling around his backpack, he pulled out his laptop, brought up the program, and gave the computer to Ducky to look at.</p><p>They scrolled and tapped around for a handful of minutes before looking up at Phil, shocked.</p><p>“You made all this last night?” </p><p>“Mostly. I couldn’t sleep.”</p><p>Ducky scoffed. “No kidding. These are amazing.” He looked over to Dan who still looked irritated with his arms crossed. “I think we’ve got a winning bot somewhere in here.”</p><p>Dan looked skeptical. “Can we even build them, Duck? No offense to you Phil, but they look pretty complex.”</p><p>“I may just be the treasurer, but this looks doable. Especially if we make it in teams. We might cut it close to the time we normally start driver training, but I’m sure you aren’t opposed to coming in early to practice.”</p><p>Dan stopped leaning on the table and grabbed the laptop from Ducky. “Don’t worry, I’m not. If you and Phil are confident in this then, let’s get the rest of the team over here and show them.” And then louder, “Hey guys, let’s wrap everything up and meet at the whiteboard in five. We’ve got some things to discuss.” He waved the laptop in the air precautiously before walking over to Phil.</p><p>As he handed the laptop back to Phil, he grabbed his shoulder and gave him a subtle smile. “They’re going to love it. It really is a great design.” Dan then glanced around the room suspiciously. “But when you present, try to keep the jokes to a minimum, once one person starts making puns, the rest can’t stop and I won’t be able to wait that long to show you the very exciting surprise.”</p><p>Phil imitated a salute and grabbed the laptop. “You got it cap’n. No puns. But this place had better be great if I’m sacrificing that much of my personality.”</p><p>“You seem like you’re enough of a nerd to like it.”</p><p>Phil raised an eyebrow. “Was that a hint, Howell?”</p><p>Dan winked. “Maybe. You’re just going to have to hurry up and find out.”</p><p>“Jerk. Well if that’s the case, get ready for the best, fastest, and most convincing presentation of all time.”</p><p>Once everyone had gathered back into the area Phil had found them in yesterday, a representative from each small group walked up to the whiteboard. They all began to sketch what Phil could only guess were rough outlines of what their teams had come up with. </p><p>Norman, who was standing next to Phil, glanced over at the emptiness on Phil’s section of the whiteboard. “Aren’t you going to show us something?” he asked.</p><p>Phil grabbed his laptop and opened it. “Uh, yeah. Well, I can’t really draw and I already made the CAD for it so I just figured I could show you guys that.”</p><p>Norman turned in bewilderment. “CAD files? I knew you were impressive, but jeez. Those take me weeks to do.”</p><p>“I just keep a library of common parts and adjust them as needed.” Phil shrugged. “They’re nowhere near as detailed as I’d like them to be, but they work pretty good for presentations and getting out the general idea of things.”</p><p>Norman shook his head and shouted at Dan, who was talking with Bry, “Hey Howell, I don’t know where you found this guy, but you’re not allowed to scare him off! Alright?”</p><p>Dan just rolled his eyes and laughed. He threw up two thumbs up before continuing the conversation. </p><p>About five minutes later, Dan walked up next to Phil and began addressing the team. “Let’s get this thing started, yeah? Remember, we aren’t deciding today so no pressure on the presenters to finish. If you guys have an idea you want to add to someone’s design, just raise your hand and we’ll get to you. Phil, why don’t you take the lead?”</p><p>Phil opened his laptop and precautiously placed it on the table in front of him. “You guys might need to get a little close for this. Or pass it around, maybe?” Ducky reached for it from the table and began passing it to everyone. “Thanks, Duck. Anyways, the main features of my design are the combination of the claw, the shooter, and a lift system so we can collect and manipulate the balls fast. The hook mechanism which will get us those extra points during the endgame and the ranking point. Along with the overall height and the mecanum wheeled, six motor chassis, we’ll be able to get anywhere fast, from any direction.</p><p>“I got these from a couple of different teams, like last year’s world champs used the combination scorer for the rocket piece in Deep Space. If we manipulate it to hold onto smaller things and add in a way store some extras, I think it’ll be a great way to get some serious points on the board pretty fast.”</p><p>Phil stopped for a moment to gauge everyone’s reactions. “Any questions? Comments, concerns?”</p><p>Norman raised his hand.</p><p>“Yeah, Norman. Something to add?”</p><p>Norman lowered his hand and swept back his dyed blue hair. “Before you told us where you got the idea, it all seemed a little... fishy. I was starting to wonder which American team you were friends with and stole this idea from,” he laughed. “But I think it all checks out. Personally, I like yours better than ours. Does anyone else have thoughts?” The room was silent. Norman looked back at Phil. “I think you’ve officially blown us all out of the water. It’s about time to leave anyway, so let’s continue this tomorrow. Any closing remarks, Dan?”</p><p>Dan shook his head. “Nope. Let’s call this a day. Everyone else, make sure you have all your thoughts together with your designs. The deciding vote will be on Friday. Other than that, good job today guys. I’m excited to see what everyone else came up with.”</p><p>After everyone had left and Dan had locked up, the two began walking to the car in silence. </p><p>Far away, some kids were squealing joyfully. The sun was setting into vibrant hues of pink and purple and the air was cool on Phil’s face. Dan’s brown hair looked golden and unruly. Tonight, the world showed off its promise of summer, freedom, and beauty. </p><p>The little red car was easy to spot in the near-empty parking lot. A handful of pigeons surrounded it, picking at some food wrappers leftover from some careless teen’s lunch. Phil tried not to disturb them as he edged his way to the passenger’s side. Dan fumbled with his keys for a moment before looking over to where Phil stood, waiting outside the car.</p><p>“You coming?”</p><p>“Of course. I just can’t get in with the door locked.” He tugged on the handle as if proving his point.</p><p>“Right, I knew that. Just, uh, gotta keep you on your toes.” Dan blushed and unlocked the car. Phil shook his head, hopped in, and then they were off.</p><p>A few minutes later, Dan pulled into the parking lot of an unassuming indie coffee shop called Bubbling Breve.</p><p>“Bubbling Breve? That sounds rather intense. Is everything served out of cauldrons?”</p><p>“Sadly, no. But I think what it does have will make up for that.”</p><p>Suddenly, Dan shifted in his seat to look at Phil. The smile had been wiped from his face and all the humor was gone.</p><p>“Phil, I’m going to ask you probably the most important question you’ll ever be asked in your life.”</p><p>Phil furrowed his brows. Where had this come from? “What are you on about, Dan? Is everything ok?”</p><p>Dan gingerly reached out and touched Phil’s arm. Phil’s heart raced. “Our entire friendship relies on your answer to this. Do you, Phil Lester, like Mario Kart?”</p><p>Phil laughed and swatted his hand away. “All of that for Mario Kart? Yes, I’m not insane. Mario Kart is life. Don’t worry, our friendship can continue.”</p><p>Dan returned back to his mile-wide grin (featuring the most adorable dimple, but that was beside the point). “Good, because I’m totally going to beat your ass at it. Let’s go, nerd, I’ve got a championship to win.”</p><p>He hurried out of his car and ran up to the front of the building, waving at Phil to follow when he was by the door.</p><p>“What a dork,” Phil said to himself, as he got out of the car. </p><p>Dan held open the door as Phil walked in. He was immediately greeted by the overwhelming smell of freshly brewed coffee. It looked like any cookie-cutter indie coffee shop with plants dramatically draped over exposed brick walls, mismatched lamps scattered on various surfaces, and a modern-looking bar-style counter to order drinks from. But the one thing that immediately struck Phil’s eye as he looked around was the double-seater arcade Mario Kart in the back of the shop. </p><p>Phil looked over to Dan, who was bouncing with excitement. “You really are a driver at heart, aren’t you?”</p><p>Dan looked at Phil. “Definitely. The first five games are on me. Loser buys the other coffee of their choice. Deal?”</p><p>“Deal.”</p><p>Turns out, as Phil found, Dan is ridiculously good at Mario Kart. It took no more than three minutes on every game for Phil to get lapped. The end-of-the-race tune was played as Phil looked at his impressive 4-1 loss. Dan just smirked from the other seat. </p><p>“You swear you’re not cheating? Because I feel like you’re cheating. How else could you have gotten that blue shell right at the end?”</p><p>Dan dramatically gasped. “I’d never cheat. I’m an honest man. Now concerning my coffee order, I think I’ve done enough surprises for tonight so you can get me back with one. I’m not picky but I’d prefer something other than black coffee.”</p><p>“You got it. One not-black coffee coming right up.”</p><p>Five minutes later, Phil walked over to the window facing counter seat where Dan had relocated to. </p><p>Phil carefully set one of the caramel macchiatos in front of Dan, who had once again been playing on his phone, and set the other in the space next to him. </p><p>“Did you know the game was here?” Phil asked.</p><p>Dan looked confused. “What do you mean?”</p><p>“Earlier. By Ms. Smiths. You said you were looking something up for the surprise.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah I saw it in the windows driving by but I wasn’t sure if it was open to the public.” He took a sip of his drink. “Turns out it is. Also, side note, what the hell did you order? This is so sweet I think I’m getting cavities just looking at it.”</p><p>“Carmel macchiatos. They’re basically one of my staple foods. I owe way too many successful programs to it.”</p><p>Dan raised an eyebrow. “I think I’ll store that information for later.”</p><p>“Are you implying that my code isn’t going to work?”</p><p>“Maybe.”</p><p>“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Phil replied in his best Darth Vader voice.</p><p>Dan giggled and gave Phil a light shove. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes until Phil finally asked what had been on his mind all day. “Why didn’t you like my design this morning? And why did you change your mind this afternoon?”</p><p>At first, Phil wasn’t sure that Dan had even heard him. He continued to look statically out the window, faced towards the winding-down town street. The street lamps were beginning to turn on, one by one, and the couple that held hands while walking down the street turned and vanished into their apartment. Age-old neon signs began to buzz, washing the street in electric shades of blue and red. </p><p>Several minutes later, Dan turned to Phil. “I don’t know. And I wish that I could have a better answer than that.” He stopped and looked into Phil’s eyes. “You deserve a better answer than that. I think I’m just scared.” </p><p>He began watching the street again. “I just don’t want to fail them again. They mean so much to me. I don’t know what I would do if we had a repeat of last season.”</p><p>Phil reached out and placed his hand on top of Dan’s laying on the table. Dan blushed and glanced at Phil. “It’ll be ok. I promise. You just need to trust them and…” Phil hesitated for a second, “…trust me. You can’t run this thing on your own.”</p><p>Dan flipped his hand and held Phil’s for a moment. Suddenly, there wasn’t a coffee shop around them. There was no town, no robot, no ugly wallpaper. There was just Dan. Dan who was holding his hand, and who was finally ready to give up some of the weight on his back. </p><p>And Phil was there, ready to carry it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry this one took so long! Life kinda got in the way and I wanted this chapter to be perfect!!</p><p>if you want to, you can reblog <a href="https://heckdnp.tumblr.com/post/620057713037148160/helloworld5">here</a> on my <a href="https://tumblr.com/blog/heckdnp">tumblr!!</a></p><p>this chapter's song is <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6FIFqclBriPCb0SjWDaHIk?highlight=spotify:track:0iTpQYzJnYgh7kIxyq8A2O">Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sunlight flooded in through the window, muting the wallpaper and turning everything golden. A breeze passed the house and the shadows of the leaves danced against the carpet. Outside, the sound of birds chirping signaled the beginning of another day. Phil sat up and stretched, his back popping up his spine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Today would be the day everything finally falls into place. They were voting on the robot design today and movers would be there in a few hours, but before that, this wallpaper had to go. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil jumped up, energized by the thought of regaining control over this simple thing. This one thing that had done nothing but plague him and hold him back ever since he had moved here. He reached for the corner of the wall where it was all in shreds anyway and grabbed a hold of the red. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then, he tore it all the way down, leaving a gaping hole where faded blue paint shone through. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue, just like the sky, just like the FoxBots’ logo, and most importantly, nothing like the old red.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Dan.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmm?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan was playing some sort of rhythm game on his phone and Phil was updating the Brain Barf List with his favorite underrated animated 2000’s movie soundtracks. It had been a quiet morning in first period, and whatever agreement they had made last night at the coffee shop had remained unspoken.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have you ever painted a room before?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan looked up from his phone. He stopped for a second and tilted his head as if he were a dog. In the meantime, his phone’s screen flashed red with a large GAME OVER in the middle. “Umm, no actually. I don’t think I have. Why’d you ask?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was actually thinking of repainting my room tonight. Are you busy?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Depends. Do I get to help choose the color?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“As long as you choose blue.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve got yourself a deal, Lester. Blue is my favorite color.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The school day seemed to drag on until robotics. The rest of the other breakout teams were going to present their robot ideas before it would be put to a group vote for the team design. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One was Norman and Bry’s group that, as expected, had the most unconventional, yet aesthetically pleasing robot idea. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Decked out in blue LEDs with only a low to mid reaching grabber arm, there wasn’t a whole lot in it that the team agreed on taking into the final design. The one benefit of their design though was the insight into the stability and the overall structural integrity of the theoretical robot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil quietly made a note to research robotic structure on the Brain Barf List, before closing his laptop as the next team began presenting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next team looked like it was full of rookie kids which was quietly confirmed as Dan whispered to Phil that they hadn’t done much more than talking and hanging out the entire season. It was people like that who brought down the entire team by refusing to learn. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then again, Phil thought, perhaps they just haven’t found their niche in the team. It was hard to be invested in something that you aren’t confident in. Phil immediately pegged the three of them as potential programmers who could carry on the team after this year. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil reopened his laptop and entered in a new page entry simply titled Potentials.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you know their names?” Phil whispered to Dan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who? Them?” Dan discreetly pointed at the three who were tripping over each other trying to explain their defense concept.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I think I want to train them for the programming team.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan’s eyes spoke a thousand words, all of them variations of, “No, what the hell are you thinking? These kids can’t code. They sit around telling dick jokes instead of working!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And, to be fair, they did tell a lot of dick jokes. Their robot design did happen to look rather phallic now that Phil was looking at it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But that wasn’t the point. The point was, was that these kids were the future and if they didn’t learn things, no one would.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just type in their names and we can discuss it later.” Phil handed Dan the laptop.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever you say, Captain Genius.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Captain Genius is my father, you can call me Mr. Amazing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan handed back the laptop and redirected his focus to the group upfront. “Whatever, nerd.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s Mr. Amazing Nerd to you.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last team had a more endgame focused robot which even they acknowledged probably wasn’t what the team wanted after seeing the other designs. The explained their initial thought process and Phil jotted down some of their more lateral ideas that might somehow be converted into a functional part.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After all of that came the voting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan stood at the front and drew a large box onto the whiteboard. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright guys, what are we thinking?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bryony half-raised her hand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah? Bry?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think we all know what we’re thinking. At least as a general first idea, we should use Phil’s. From what he’s said, it should not only maximize our score, but it should also be the easiest to build seeing as it’s already planned out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone around the room began nodding in agreeance. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s not completely done,” Phil quickly said. “I was looking at your group’s design and I really liked the support that you guys put into it.” Phil then turned and pointed to the group of rookies. “And you- what was your name? I’m sorry, I’m terrible at remembering stuff.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The kid in the middle pointed to himself. “Me? I’m Connor.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, Connor. I just wanted to say, with the way your defense bot was structured, the wires would be extremely protected. And, if you don’t mind, I think that would be a good concept to try and develop into the final product.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Really?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Dan? What do you think?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan looked at Connor and then back at Phil. Somehow Phil had gotten the worst kids to participate. If he could manage that, who knows what else he could do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan’s confused look quickly morphed into a smile. “I think it’s a great idea!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He turned back towards the board and started making bullet points on everything that had been discussed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After he was done he turned back around. “Does anyone want to add something else? Any last thoughts you want to save for Monday?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A few heads shook as Dan surveyed the quiet room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright then. That’s going to be it for today. Be ready to start prototyping parts!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The chairs in the room all screeched as everyone got up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil walked up to Dan. “So… do you know where a guy can get some paint around here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan laughed. “Let me lock up and then we can go to the hardware store.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To Phil’s surprise, despite how small the town was, the paint section of the local shop was rather extensive. The entire wall was full of hundreds of shades of every color. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan walked up next to where Phil was standing. “Think we’ll find something we like?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a feeling that we will.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next hour was spend finding the perfect shade of blue. Phil excitedly went up to the wall and immediately started grabbing the brightest blues he could find. Dan, however, grabbed a few more mellow tones and began comparing them with the reference pamphlets scattered around the store. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually, after much mediation and advice from the bored clerk, they finally came to an agreement. Something not too brash, but not too boring.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil paid and they carried out the buckets of paint and supplies to Dan’s car. They both got into their respective sides and Dan started the car. As soon as the engine turned over, the radio turned on and the most ridiculous song Phil had ever heard began to play.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Sun is shinin' in the sky</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There ain't a cloud in sight</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It's stopped rainin' everybody's in the play</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And don't you know</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It's a beautiful new day, hey hey</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil broke out laughing. “What </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span> you listening to?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a classic! You’re just a hater.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever, Howell. When we get back to my place I’ll show you some real music.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan rolled his eyes and continued driving but Phil could still see the smirk he was trying so hard to hide.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When they walked into Phil’s room, Dan let out a low whistle. “You weren’t kidding about this wallpaper. This stuff is hideous!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Let’s get it off. I don’t want to suffer any longer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t blame you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They slowly worked their way around the room, tearing off the poorly attached, peeling wallpaper. When they finally released the room from its misery, they cracked open the paint and poured it into the trays. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil then turned on his best of Muse playlist and began slapping paint on the walls to the beat of the music. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Phil! You’re gonna ruin the walls doing it like that!” Dan laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry Danny, I can’t hear you over the sound of my epic music!” Phil set down his paint roller and grabbed Dan’s hands and started moving them. “C’mon! It’s better if you dance!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan just grinned. “You’re such a dork! I’ll try it, but I just need you to know you’re still a dork.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noted. And now since you’re having fun, let’s get this sucka painted!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It must have been hours since they started, judging by the darkness outside, but it felt like no time at all, dancing and laughing and painting with Dan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil was sure Dan’s laugh could be heard on the other side of the neighborhood. It was so bright and loud and Phil never wanted it to stop.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Dan turned to look at Phil, paintbrush dripping in hand. His eyes turned down towards Phil’s lips before moving back up. He scoffed before reaching out and cupping Phil’s jaw. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil forgot how to breathe. His cheeks became so hot they felt like they were going to explode. What was Dan doing? Was he going to kiss him? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh my god, it’s happening. Stay cool, stay cool</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then Dan’s thumb started moving in a very determined back and forth pattern. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You got paint all over your face, you absolute buffoon. I think you’re gonna need a wet wipe or something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil tried to not let the disappointment show on his face as Dan’s hand fell.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think you’re helping much with all that paint on your hands,” Phil joked, trying to move the attention away from his cherry-red face. “You look like a smurf!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan gasped in feign offense. “Excuse me, smurfs are great!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your mum is great,” Phil retaliated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nerd.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dork.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil placed the paintbrush back on the plastic covering. Dan held his carefully while looking around the room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’re you doing?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan dropped his gaze back to Phil and smiled so that his dimple showed. “Looking for spots we missed. I think we somehow managed to get them all in between spilling paint all over ourselves.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow. I’m impressed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Me too.” He paused for a second and looked around the room. “You still don’t have any furniture up here. Are you going to bring it all up tonight?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That was the plan. But now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not sure how I’m going to manage it without ruining the walls and the furniture… maybe I’ll just try to bring up my mattress and some blankets. I’d at least be able to get a decent night of sleep then, I suppose.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where is it downstairs? I’ll help you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t have to. It’s pretty hea-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Phil,” Dan interrupted, “I want to help. Let’s go find it, yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Ok.” Phil was taken aback. Helping a friend paint a room made sense. It was fun, low-effort, and you could hang out the whole time. But moving furniture? No one wanted to do that. People hired companies to do that because of how not-fun it was. Then again, if Dan was going to offer help, Phil was going to take it. “I think I saw it by the couch…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A struggle, some mild cursing, and 3 stepped on toes later, Phil had a bed in his room. Maybe not the most comfortable thing in the world, but also much better than a sleeping bag.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan stood awkwardly in the middle of the room with his hand on his neck. “It’s getting pretty late out. I think I’ll get out of your hair and let you finally get some good sleep.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil checked his phone. Somehow, it was already 11 o’clock. He looked back at Dan. There were bags under his eyes and he was making weird hair metaphors. “You know, there isn’t school tomorrow. You can spend the night here, my parents won’t mind. To be completely honest, I think they miss having two kids running around.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan’s eyes lit up. “Yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Of course. Do you need to text your parents or anything? I have a charger if your phone’s dying.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nah, they probably haven’t even noticed I’m gone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” That hadn’t been the answer Phil was expecting. Phil’s parents were all over him anytime he tried going anywhere overnight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan was still standing in the middle of the room, unsure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to borrow some pajamas?” Phil asked. “They’re all still in a box downstairs but I have to grab some for me anyways.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’d be great, thank you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All right. I’ll be right back.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil snuck downstairs to find his parents chatting at the newly delivered dining table, surrounded by piles of boxes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He walked next to his mum and placed his hands on her shoulders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She set down her drink, covered his hands, and asked, “Will your friend be heading home soon?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Actually Mum, is it alright if Dan spends the night since it’s so late? And do we still have the air mattress if the answer’s yes?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked over to Phil’s dad across the table. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “We’re fine with it as long as you don’t stay up too late and are functional tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I think we threw away our air mattress during the move since it had gotten mouldy,” his mum added.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will be, don’t worry! And that’s alright. I guess I’ll share my mattress. Thank you!” Phil quickly left the room before they could change their minds and went to search for his clothes in the mess of boxes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A few minutes later, Phil barged into the room to find Dan sitting on the mattress while looking out the window. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I grabbed some clothes. I wasn’t sure if you were my size so I hope these fit. Also, I just asked my mum if we still had our blow-up mattress and she said that we had gotten rid of it,” Phil said, walking into the room with a small pile of clothes in his arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan shrugged his shoulders and took the clothes from Phil. “That’s fine. I figured I’d be sleeping on the floor anyway.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you kidding? My mum would kill me if I made you sleep on the floor. You know, you could sleep on the bed with me. I’ve heard I’m kind of a blanket hog but you can just, I don’t know, kick me off if I get to be too annoying.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan got up from the bed and started walking towards the door. “Yeah? I’ll hold you to that, Lester. I’m serious about my blankets.” He opened the door and walked out before momentarily returning. “I just realized I have no idea where the bathroom is.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil laughed. “First door on the right.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks.” He winked and left the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Phil changed and got situated into the bed before Dan could get a chance to come back in the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he did come back, Dan must’ve thought he was already asleep as he gently crawled onto the mattress and under a few of the many blankets Phil had set out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil stirred and turned to look at Dan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is this ok?” Dan asked in a soft voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Phil smiled, “Very ok. Goodnight, Dan.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Night, Phil.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>And when Phil woke up to Dan’s arm grabbing him in the middle of the night, holding him close, he just smiled and went back to sleep. Feelings were something he could deal with in the morning. For now, he would just enjoy the company and the oh-so-bright blueness that surrounded him.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter's song is <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2Vi6ZsNKwx8ASJo7fOZgkJ">Mr. Blue Sky by ELO</a><br/>Come reblog on tumblr <a href="tumblr.com/blog/heckdnp">@heckdnp!</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“What do you mean you can’t connect to the robot! It’s right there! It’s on! What more do you want from me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was after normal hours. The team had gone home for the weekend, and they rightly deserved it too. The different pieces of the robot were starting to look closer and closer to functional every day. They had been working hard, and Phil was proud of all of them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>However, one important piece of the robot refused to work- the RoboRIO. The RoboRIO acted as the brains of the operation. The motherboard. The Grand Central Station of wires. But right now it was acting like a toddler coming down from a sugar high. And Phil, being a terrible babysitter for temperamental robots, was at a loss for what to do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan was the only other person in the shop. That morning, when Phil had told Dan he would be staying late to work out some code, Dan insisted on staying too, claiming he had to work on fabricating some tricky parts. However, Dan had only insisted this </span>
  <em>
    <span>after</span>
  </em>
  <span> Phil had told him didn’t have a ride and would just walk home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan stopped the bandsaw he had previously been running in the shop’s corner and looked at Phil’s table in confusion. The laptop bag had thrown up all over the table with ethernet cords, papers, and controllers placed wherever there was room. Phil had not only the team laptop out, but also his phone and his personal laptop. It was a mess. And in the middle sat Phil, leaning on the table, his face in his hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, what’s wrong?” Dan placed the metal piece on a counter and walked over to Phil.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil wiped his face, hoping he didn’t look as close to breaking down as he felt. “It’s not working, and I’ve tried everything and I don’t know what to do. I swear I’ve read every thread, every help site, every troubleshooting guide that so much as mentions the stupid freaking RoboRIO. And,” he said, gaining momentum, “I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’ve had this problem before. I just don’t remember how to fix it or-or stop it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan stood for a moment, shocked by the sudden Phil outbreak. Then he relaxed, took off his safety glasses, and wiped off the sweat that had been building on his forehead. After a moment, he said, “Sounds like you need to join the build team for a second.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“C’mon. Let’s get your mind off of things. I have a very solvable problem that you can help me with.” Dan reached out his hand to Phil. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil looked at him incredulously but took his hand anyway. It was calloused, dirty with grease, and completely engulfed Phil’s hand. He wondered for a moment how those hands could create and work with such fine things on the robot. Dan always joked about how clumsy he was but when it came down to it, these hands were the best tool in the shop.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan led him back to the bandsaw and his unfinished project. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So Philly,” he started, squeezing Phil’s hand once before letting go, “We need to create a support cage for the lift so it doesn't get too top-heavy and fall over, as per your requests from last week.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright. I’m guessing you have a plan for that already?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“More or less.” He met Phil’s eyes. “What are you more comfortable with right now? Thinking or not thinking?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not thinking. I’ve had enough for today.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan nodded. “A respectable answer. Thinking’s the worst.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil hummed in agreement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright. Let’s chop up some stuff. I’ve already got measurements so we just have to measure twice cut once. Sounds good?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have you ever used any of the power tools we have along the back wall? I’m guessing you’ve at least been trained on them.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I have. I get the basics but I would appreciate some assistance from you in not  chopping my hand off.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not a problem. I prefer my Phil with both hands attached. So let’s finish what I was working on over here. This is going to act as the main support bar and is basically an extending triangle arm.” He pointed at the bar in two spots. “We need to make a cut here and a round cut-out here and then sand it all down. Sound good?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yee.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright. Put your safety glasses back on and we’ll get started.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil pulled his glasses off his forehead and back on his face while Dan grabbed the bar and set it down on the machine. He grabbed a sharpie and tape measure from his pocket and sketched out a rough semi-circle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re right-handed, so you’re gonna want to stand on the opposite side of me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil moved to the other side and grabbed the bar. Dan then placed his hands on top of Phil’s and moved them to the right spots. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to help you guide it along, ok? If you get scared or nervous I can take over.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ok.” Phil smiled at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Dan flipped on the switch and the bandsaw began running. Slowly and together, they moved the metal through the machine, resulting in a missing chunk of metal in the bar. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan turned off the machine and inspected their work. “Not bad... for a programmer!” He turned to Phil and gave him a grin. Phil grinned back and playfully smacked him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re a jerk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe,” Dan shrugged and put his arm over Phil’s shoulders, “but I’m your favorite jerk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was so close Phil could feel his breath brush against his cheek. It made him think of the morning after the sleepover a few weeks ago.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They woke up in each other’s arms. They both knew this wasn’t an accident. Phil </span>
  <em>
    <span>especially</span>
  </em>
  <span> knew Dan didn’t think it was an accident with the way he pulled him into a giant bear hug. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then Dan spoke in his rough morning voice, “Y’know, this reminds me of a Shakespeare quote.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shakespeare wasn’t exactly what Phil was thinking about right then, but maybe Dan was going somewhere with it, “Oh yeah? What’s old Billy Shook got to say?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan pulled away and looked at Phil. He looked just as warm and soft as he felt. “‘Sleep that soothes away all our worries. Sleep that puts each day to rest. Sleep that relieves the weary laborer and heals hurt minds. Sleep, the main course in life's feast, and the most nourishing.’”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That sounds nice. Very calming. What play is it from? Romeo and Juliet?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan grinned. “Nope! Macbeth, right after he killed someone! Although, it is a very sweet quote.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You are strange but impressive, Howell. I think my quest in life is to figure out how that brain of yours runs.” Phil gently began tapping and inspecting Dan’s head, reducing him to a fit of giggles. “What operating system do you run? Windows? Linux? Don’t tell me you’re a Mac product.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Through laughs, Dan managed to choke out, “But you’re a Mac user!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil, moving to tickle the rest of Dan, squealed out, “Not by choice!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil was brought out of his daydream by his phone aggressively ringing. The caller ID showed it was PJ. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, it’s Peej. I gotta take this.” Dan’s arm fell off Phil’s shoulder as he nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil walked back to his station covered in wires and answered the call.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey Peej, what’s up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Remember when you said coding was really easy and we can just Google everything?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, actually, I don’t think I ever said that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s tough. I’ve copied all your old code and everything has red and green squiggles underneath it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you import everything at the top?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did I import- shit. No. I’ll do that now. I did remember to update all the Victor motor controllers and the RoboRIO so I think I should get awesome coder points for that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil jumped up, slapped his face, and shouted, “Update the RoboRIO! Of-freaking-course! Peej, you’re a genius. I’ll call you back.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He did a short celebratory dance and sat back at the laptop, furiously typing to pull up the program.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan, however, looked simultaneously confused and amused at Phil’s reaction. “You alright there, bub? Crisis averted?” he shouted across the shop.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Better than alright. I figured out what was wrong!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan grabbed a towel to wipe his hands off and walked over to Phil. “Oh yeah? And what was it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil didn’t even look up as he spoke. “Freaking updates. They get me every time. How’s your thing going? Still need my help?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan suddenly turned beet red. “Oh, ah, no. I think I can handle it. Keep doing your thing, Hackerman.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright. Good luck, then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>It felt like hours later when the updates finally showed they were complete. The robot was now functional, code-wise anyway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Phil looked at the robot. It had a semi-complete wiring board, a complete chassis, and code. Good enough for a test run.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dan!” Phil attempted to shout over the sound of a drill. “Dan! The robot works!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan stopped and looked up from his project. “What?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The robot! It’s alive! Do you want to go test it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan’s face lit up brighter than anything Phil had ever seen. “Hell yeah! Just let me clean up my stuff and we can go to the car park.” He turned to put the tool away before he turned back around and asked, “As long as you’re done for now too? You’ve been so stressed lately you better be done for a while.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took Phil by surprise. He had been staying up later than he’d like to admit, just debugging for hours, but how could Dan know that? “Yeah, I think I am. Don’t worry Doc, I’ll go home and take a nap.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’d better. I know where you live and I’m friends with your mum, so I’ll check.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil gasped dramatically. “She’d never betray me like that!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m Kath’s favorite son now. You’ve been dethroned.” He smugly replied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil faked fainting to the floor. “Nooo! Goodbye cruel world…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’ll be a shame if you die now. Don’t even get to see the robot run.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m up. I’m up. It was a miracle, they said. Back from the grave. Haven’t seen it before.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan laughed and held out his hand for Phil to grab. “C’mon drama-queen. Let’s go test the robot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, it was a short walk to the car park. There were a few scattered groups of birds, some cars from unlucky faculty who had to stay late, and Dan and Phil and their robot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They carefully moved the robot off the low platform cart and placed it on the pavement. Phil got to work with his wires and drive station, figuring out which plug went to where, and figuring out where exactly he put the test-driving ethernet. Meanwhile, Dan stood around shooing pigeons away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Phil.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Phil had his tongue stuck out in concentration, trying to pull up the many necessary programs to download the code into the robot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan sat down on the cart, giving up on the pigeons. “I don’t know if anyone’s told you this yet, but we usually let the newbie of the team name the robot of the year. Do you have any ideas?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil finally clicked the download code button and double-checked all the lights and wires. He looked up at Dan. The evening light looked good on him, accentuating his eyelashes and cute little nose. It made Phil want this moment to last forever. “I was actually thinking the other night, Quasar would be a good name. They surround supermassive black holes and expel energy. Kinda like how we’re shooting out game pieces.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I like it. Quasar. It just feels nice to say.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I agree.” Phil stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants. “Well, the robot’s ready. Do you want to drive it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Definitely.” He grabbed the drive station, which was sitting next to him on the cart. He tested out the controls, moving them back and forth while watching the robot carry out the commands via ethernet cords a few feet away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a few tries, Dan got the controls down and began speeding it around the lot. It was fast enough that the birds began to get worried and finally left them alone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Phil Lester, you’re a genius! This is the best robot I’ve ever driven!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ahh, no it’s not,” Phil replied, laughing. “You’re just saying that. I’m sure I’m using the same code you’ve always used.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan drove the robot to Phil’s feet. “I think he likes you, Phil. You’d better give him some head pats.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re a dork. But yes, Quasar, I love you too,” Phil giggled. He looked over to Dan. Quasar wasn’t the only one present that he’d thought that about, but confessions were for later. Now, they had a robot to finish and a competition to win.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter is dedicated to my irl robot, Quasar, who never got to play her game.<br/>Reblog on tumblr <a href="heckdnp.tumblr.com">@heckdnp</a><br/>This chapter's song is Ode to the Mets by The Strokes</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was the week before comp. The code and the robot had officially been finished for a while now, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t all hands on deck. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil’s main goal for the FoxBots was to create a sense of sustainability, and with this being his last year before uni and the adventure that would be, he needed to train someone. Or in this case, three someones.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Connor! Cam! Get over here, guys! You need to know how to deploy the robot code without my help. That is literally the most important code thing to know.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were over on the other side of the shop, </span>
  <em>
    <span>again</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Phil had been rambling off to the seemingly best behaved of the trio, Jake, for who knows how long, about deploying code and important things to make sure </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>happen and he hadn’t turned around in a while, only to find out when he did that the other two were whacking each other with pool noodles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil knew they would be a handful. Even after writing their names down on that list, Dan had warned him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had been sitting together on Phil’s bed, as they often did after robotics was done for the day. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Phil.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were both laying on their backs next to each other scrolling on their phones. It was a sort of unspoken tradition between the two of them. If they happened across a cute dog or a dank meme they’d move the screen into the other’s area just to hear little nose puffs of amusement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you serious about wanting to train the younger kids?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil put down his phone and turned on his side towards Dan. Dan pocketed his phone and mirrored him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I think so. Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan readjusted so his arm was acting as a pillow. “I’m just worried.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About what? Me? Or them?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan’s expression softened and he scooted closer. He opened his mouth once, closed it before opening it again as if deciding something, then whispered in a gentle voice, “I always worry about you, Phil Lester. You’re always on my mind.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil paused for a moment and searched Dan’s face for a sign as to what that meant. It was such a big statement, almost too big for Phil’s fragile heart. He could ask. He could lean forward and close his eyes to ask. This could be the moment. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Their</span>
  </em>
  <span> moment. All it took was a little bravery.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Phil wasn’t brave today. He couldn’t risk what they had for some misinterpretation on his part. It was too important, too valuable to put it up to chance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He must’ve looked confused, because Dan then continued, “You just get so passionate about things. I’m worried it might not work with training Connor and his friends and you’ll get burnt out trying to perfect them. But mostly, I’m worried that you’re going to think it’s all your fault.” Dan suddenly looked away, embarrassed. The rosy spot that Phil loved so much suddenly reappeared. Phil wanted to poke it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan looked back up at Phil. “Can you give me one thing? Please?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If Dan had asked him for the moon, he would have gotten it. Whatever he wanted, Phil would get. No questions asked. He was in </span>
  <em>
    <span>so</span>
  </em>
  <span> deep but he didn’t care. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Give me a promise that you won’t blame yourself if things don’t go the way you planned.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That wasn’t what he was expecting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>How did he do that? Just peer over the wall Phil’s built around his heart and know exactly what he needed?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I promise, Dan.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That promise was ringing in his head now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil turned to Jake, “Did you at least </span>
  <em>
    <span>kind of</span>
  </em>
  <span> get what I was saying?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jake nodded before turning around to look at Connor and Cam.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course. He wanted to be with his friends. “Do you think you could do it on your own really quick? I’ll let you go afterward, I promise.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jake turned his attention back to Phil and smiled. “Yeah! I got this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil hopped off the stool and traded spots with him. A few clicks later, with minimal confused glances back to Phil, the robot had code deployed and activated. And without a moment to waste, Jake was over with his friends bouncing off the walls once more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t the most ideal of situations to only have two people who know how to make the robot turn on, the week prior to the first competition, but Phil wasn’t going to blame himself. He wouldn’t. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, it just happened to be how the cards lay at the moment. At least that was what he kept telling himself. And that’s what he would tell Dan when he asked later that day in Phil’s room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Phil would be lying if he said he didn’t stay up at all sorts of ungodly hours wondering, </span>
  <em>
    <span>what if?</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What if he gets pulled away from the pits and Jake makes a mistake? Would that be his fault? He would never let the blame fall on Jake.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What if he’s not trying enough with the other boys? What if it’s just because he isn’t interesting enough? What if Dan thinks he isn’t interesting enough after robotics and ditches him? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What if he promised too much and this is all for nothing?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It couldn’t be for nothing. He had only been here for a little more than a month, but the FoxBots were his team. They were his family. One way or another, this season would work itself out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the daylight though, the problems didn’t seem as looming. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With the joyful mechanical chirping of Quasar zooming around the shop while Dan practiced on their mock field, the worries of the night seemed as far away as the stars.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan really was a good driver. Phil always teased him while riding around in his car, but there was something about the way he thought in advance about what he wanted to do, not in reaction. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sometimes drivers are only there because they were convenient. It’s a hard position to train for since the robot is usually only done for a short amount of time before teams compete. There wasn’t a specific way to do it either. The general requirements were being fast and accurate, but also not too stubborn, as a driver has to listen to updates and ideas from the other members of the drive team. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Dan was all of those things. It was impressive how fast he could go up to a goal and stop at the right time without overshooting. The robot turned into an extension of him, moving by sheer will-power.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the looks of it, the competition won’t know what hit them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After wrapping up for the day, Dan gathered the team around the robot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, guys. Tomorrow we’re packing and loading everything into cars and then we’re ending the meeting afterward, so make sure you have a ride. Norman, Phil, and I are going to the competition center to set up our pit, and then Saturday and Sunday is comp. Make sure you guys have lunch money or at least a snack, lots of water, and your shirts or hoodies. For those of you that this is your first comp, I’d recommend layering because it will be cold in the morning, but you</span>
  <em>
    <span> will</span>
  </em>
  <span> be sweating like crazy if you choose to wear a hoodie in the afternoon. Actually, scratch that, you will be sweating like crazy no matter what. Please, please, please, apply deodorant like your life depends on it. Because it does. And remember, there are lots of rules you have to follow </span>
  <em>
    <span>or else</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but I’ll boil it down to two: don’t be a dickwad and have fun. I think that about does it. Norman, Bry? Anything to add?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bryony shook her head. “I think that covers everything. The drive team is already chosen for those who were wondering, </span>
  <em>
    <span>although</span>
  </em>
  <span>, if you wanted to go and rotate in once or twice, that can be arranged. Just let Dan, Phil, Norman, or me know and we can work something out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan nodded. “If you even only want to go out for the experience, tell us. Seriously. I know Phil has a scary face, but he really is secretly nice sometimes.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil shot Dan a quick glare, which was broken seconds later by the grin taking up his entire face. Phil playfully elbowed Dan in the ribs and said, “You’re a jerkface.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe. But I’m your jerkface.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They stood there smiling as if having a silent conversation. Phil wished they were.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, Ducky cleared their throat, taking Dan and Phil out of their own little world. “Is there anything else we need to know for the good of the order?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan refocused his attention. “Sorry, no, I think that’s it. I’ll see some of you tomorrow, and all of you this weekend. Make sure you guys get good sleep! I’d rather not have a team of zombies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Later in the evening, just as Dan was walking out the front door, about to leave Phil’s house for the night, Phil stopped him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, Dan! I just remembered! There might be a small issue with me going to the competition this weekend.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan froze and turned back around. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His eyes were wide and his brows were furrowed. He looked really and truly </span>
  <em>
    <span>pissed</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “Wha- What are you saying, Phil? Can you not go? You need to tell me these things before the last second, </span>
  <em>
    <span>mate</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” His voice was not yet angry, but that last word clearly displayed all of the sudden frustration and irritation Dan had for Phil.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil panicked for a moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What if Dan had always been at least a bit angry at him? What if Dan had always thought Phil would flake out? This couldn’t have come out of nowhere.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No! No, that’s not it at all! I swear!” He slapped his hands up to cover his face and began rambling, “No, I just don’t have a team shirt is all! Christ, I need to get better on thinking before I speak. Why do I say things like that? Shit, I’m really sorry for scaring you, Dan. I promise I’m not flaking out! I swear!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan’s face immediately softened. Phil was trying his hardest to not get worked up, but it felt like an impossible task. He kept sniffling and rubbing his face, hoping the sudden redness would go away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey… Phil, Phil I’m sorry for snapping. Look… Phil, can you look at me a sec? Please?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil looked up. Dan almost had tears in his eyes too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not mad at you Phil. Even if you actually couldn’t go, I wouldn’t have been mad at you. A little annoyed, sure. But never angry. I’m really sorry that I </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span> made you feel that way. If something I do makes you feel like this again, </span>
  <em>
    <span>tell me.</span>
  </em>
  <span> It isn’t your fault, it’s mine. I need to improve myself and my temper, and I realize that now. I never meant to scare you. I’m so sorry, Phil.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan then lifted his arms and gave Phil a questioning look.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was an invitation. One that could be turned down without hesitation or lingering resentment. However, Phil needed a hug right now and he couldn’t turn one down if his life depended on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan was a good hugger. He was one of the few people Phil had ever met that was big enough to envelop him with a hug. It was just about the nicest thing Phil could imagine, being wrapped up in warm arms and a hoodie. And it was nicer still because it was Dan’s arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It felt like they had been standing there for an eternity before Dan finally spoke up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Y’know, I have an extra hoodie and shirt you could borrow. I have two sets so it wouldn’t be a big deal at all.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil lifted his head from Dan’s shoulder. “Yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I’ll bring them to school for you tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Dan. You’re the best.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of yourself, Mr. Amazing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil blushed and hid his face back into Dan’s shoulder. “Nerd.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dork.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning, Dan kept his promise and brought the clothes for Phil. It also just so happened to be a bit colder than Phil anticipated that day, so Phil decided he’d better wear what he now had on hand, rather than freeze his tits off all day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He completely forgot about it too, until Ducky approached him after they had packed everything away into Dan’s car later that day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you found something, eh? I figured your boy would help you out. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you wearing it already, with how affectionate you lot are.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil just hummed and nodded until he realized what Duck was implying. “Wait. No, I think you’ve got the wrong idea, Duck. Dan and I- we’re not- we aren’t-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ducky gave Phil a confused look. “Really? You could’ve fooled me.” He nodded his head across the lot where Bry was helping Dan with some tie-downs. “Danny over there seems head over heels for ya. I haven’t had a conversation with him where you weren’t mentioned in weeks!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil’s face felt like it was on fire. It felt like bees were about to rupture from underneath his skin. This moment was definitely the next entry for traumatic events. It might even top that one time he spilled food down the front of himself two years ago. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is it hot out here or is it just me?” He began pulling at the collar, desperate for something to do with his hands other than shake every word out of Ducky that involved Dan possibly liking him back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Duck just gave him a small smile. “Y’know Phil, if you ever need to talk or tell me anything, I’m here. And if that </span>
  <em>
    <span>just so happens</span>
  </em>
  <span> to involve feelings </span>
  <em>
    <span>you may or may not have</span>
  </em>
  <span> for a certain someone, I can keep quiet. I know what it’s like keeping that kind of thing under wraps, and it sucks.” They placed a hand on Phil’s shoulder. “Good luck, Phil. I really mean it. You deserve good things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Sometimes,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Phil thought as he hid from the breeze in Dan’s hoodie while watching Dan from across the lot, </span>
  <em>
    <span>being seen was worth the bravery.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take you up on that offer, Duck. One day soon. But I think I’m going to tell a certain someone first.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!! reblog and come say hi @ditlmanchester on tumblr!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was competition day. Everything so far had been building up to this. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If they flopped today, that would be it. No more robots day after day, no more hanging out and solving problems together. Just training for next year and the end of Phil’s robotic career. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To say he was nervous was an understatement. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But Phil was excited too. Because this was a national competition, which meant the RoboReds were here too. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even before Phil had gotten into Dan’s car that morning, he had been texting back and forth with PJ. It was weird to see your best friend every day of your life for years and then suddenly not see them for months. And now the time had finally come when they would see each other again, on their favorite day in their favorite place. It was like fate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil was so involved in texting PJ back that he didn’t even notice Dan was there until he honked. Smiling shyly, he put away his phone and hopped in the car.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And what are you so smiley about this early in the morning, Mr. Lester? Got a secret robot girlfriend waiting for you at comp?” Dan shifted the car back into drive and got back on the road towards their next stop to pick up Norman and Bry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil just smirked and rolled his eyes. “No, definitely not a robot</span>
  <em>
    <span> girl</span>
  </em>
  <span>friend. I was actually talking with Peej. He’s already on his way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, so I </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> right.” Dan glanced a smile at Phil.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil laughed and playfully hit him. “Shut up, you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Y’know, from what I’ve heard about Peej, I think he’d love to be your robot girlfriend. But let’s be real, he’d never be as good as me because I grabbed you coffee this morning.” Dan smugly looked over to Phil. “It should be over there somewhere. I just guessed what you wanted with what you got us at the coffee shop. I hope that’s alright.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He found the drink in the center console and took a sip. The sweet caramel was like a warm hug on this chilly morning. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan shrugged off the comment with a whispered, “Not a problem,” but the sliver of pride was hanging off the poorly disguised smile on Dan’s face and stayed there for the rest of the trip.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An hour later, Dan, Phil, Norman, and Bry arrived at the competition center. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was already a crowd waiting to be let into the front doors. The moment the clock struck eight, all the people turned into a sea and surged towards their pits, anxious to begin finishing the last minute touches to their robots.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil and the rest of the FoxBots carefully avoided the crowd while making their way back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was always a surreal experience walking through the hallways, surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of other nerdy teens that share your exact same passion. No matter the background, race, gender, sexual orientation, whether you were a button collector, a shirt collector, had been coming for 10 years or you were just a rookie, everyone was here for robots.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A sudden sense of Deja Vu washed over Phil.  He was reminded of the first time he saw the London Pride Parades from the telly. The unity of just being your queer self no matter who was watching surged through him then and it surged through him now. These were his people. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Phil? Phil!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Oof.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” PJ slammed into Phil at full speed. It only took a half-second to register what was happening, and when it finally did, Phil wrapped his arms around PJ and held him like his life depended on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a minute, PJ finally spoke up, “I missed you so much, man. Let’s never do that again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Agreed. It felt like my arm was missing.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil noticed a slight touch on his shoulder and glanced up. Dan was standing awkwardly alone next to them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He held up a thumbs up and mouthed “</span>
  <em>
    <span>you good?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” to which Phil nodded. Dan looked like he was about to start walking away to catch up with the rest of the team, but before he could, Phil pulled away from PJ.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Peej,” he began, walking over to Dan’s side, “I’m not sure if you two have properly met, but this is Dan, president, driver, and all-around pretty cool guy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think we met last year, right?” PJ smirked and shoved his hands into his pockets. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s right. I was talking with you about alliance strategies when Phil here,” he said as he gently elbowed Phil in the ribs, “waltzed into my head and hasn’t left since.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>PJ gave Phil something crossed between a confused and sly look. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil swept off PJ’s insinuation with an eye roll and a shake of his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>PJ shot back a furrowed brow before slowly raising it into a single raised eyebrow and winking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil’s face flushed with heat, as he bit his lip and turned away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan, meanwhile, looked between them, confused. “Are you two having a conversation… or…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“-Phil was just saying,” PJ interrupted, “ that he would show me where your pit was. I haven’t seen it around yet.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah. It should be over here.” Dan gave Phil a quick puzzled look before guiding them over to where the rest of the Foxes were already working on the robot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rest of the morning was filled with inspections and last-minute preparations. They got their match schedule and before they knew it, they were queuing up for their first match of the season. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil was carrying the laptop on the drive station, Norman was on cart duty with the robot. Bry was at the side, making sure nothing fell off and that the bumpers were on correctly. Dan walked in front of the pack since he was the loudest of the group and got the prestigious traditional award of yelling out “ROBOT!” to anyone who accidentally got in the way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the hallway prior to the game, they talked with their two other alliance members on strategy. The other teams immediately recognized and put value towards Dan’s ideas. It was almost intoxicating to watch him assess the other teams’ strengths and weaknesses and create a game plan off the top of his head that would highlight everyone’s best features. Dan’s brain was a supercomputer that spoke robot and Phil just wished he could get a peek of it one day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then suddenly, it was showtime. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all flipped down their safety glasses and all walked onto the field, surrounded by hundreds of spectators of students and mentors and parents. The adrenaline hit Phil. This was his element. He had waited his entire life for this moment. He was going to go big or go home, all with Dan and the Foxes at his side.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Norman and Dan moved the robot off the cart and onto the field. They flipped one switch, turned on one button, then another, and then looked at Phil through the plastic safety wall. Phil was already booting up the code and attaching ethernets and USBs to the laptop. The program turned green while Phil started the robot. The computer screen lit up with the camera’s vision and the information behind the controls. Phil threw them a thumbs up. All systems were a go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not even a minute later, the announcer ran around the field introducing all the teams. Four teams away. Two teams. One team.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And last but certainly not least, our previous local world champions, community leaders, and rising STEM stars… Team 4837, The FoxBots!” The risers erupted with deafening cheers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan just grinned and waved to everyone. Phil wanted to turn and look at the crowd but he couldn’t take his eyes off Dan. His dimple was poking out again and his hair had had so many hands run through it already today, it looked like a mess. Phil’s favorite, perfect mess. On his favorite, perfect, mess of a person.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil’s heart was beating out his chest. The last time he felt like this, he was facing a sleepy morning Dan in his bed, in the room they had painted the night before. Euphoria was erupting from all of his pores. The world felt like it made sense again for the first time in a long time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The warning beeps began to sound off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Three.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The match turned into a blur. Dan and the rest of the alliance fought like a tornado, launching, spinning, and racking up points. Phil offered suggestions occasionally but Dan always saw and did what Phil was thinking before he could finish his sentence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It felt like mere seconds as the match came to an end. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all turned towards the projector screens as the results were tallied up by the referees. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then the animation began to play. The red and blue rockets sat on the screen about to liftoff. They took off and the Blue rocket sped up and launched off the screen while the red failed. The blue alliance had won. The FoxBots had won their first match. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all began jumping and high fiving each other before swiftly gathering their things and moving for the next teams to set up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They did it. And they kept doing it. Over and over the entire day until the sky had turned back to black. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They ended the first day of competition exhausted but satisfied with seven wins and one loss. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And while Phil didn’t fall asleep on the way home in Dan’s car, he got close. Dan turned up his Moon Shaped Pool Radiohead album, which was complimented nicely with the pitter-patter of rain on the window. Phil’s hand rested on the center console softly tapping along to the beat. Halfway home, Dan laid his hand over Phil’s and began rubbing calming circles with his thumb. If Phil hadn’t been awake, he sure was after that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Later, after everyone else had been dropped off and Dan and Phil were the only ones left in the car, Dan clasped Phil’s hand and whispered, “I know you’re awake, nerd.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hhhhrm… no you don’t. I’m asleep,” Phil mumbled back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Likely story. Well, if you’re asleep, then I guess I’ll have to carry you into your house. Might get a bit awkward explaining to your parents why you have a concussion when I inevitably drop you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil finally turned and looked back at him. “You’d never drop me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan pulled up to Phil’s curb and parked the car. “You’re right, but it still wouldn’t be much fun for you when I collapse from exhaustion and you have to find a new driver-best friend hybrid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I have loads of those. I’ll be fine.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan laughed. “I’m sure.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil just smiled. “You know, you can spend the night again if you want. I still don’t have an air mattress, but we can share my bed again. We can leave earlier that way too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan scrunched up his mouth while he gave Phil the softest look. “I wish I could. That was fun last time, but I need to head home. I may or may not have some snacks for tomorrow waiting there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll let you off this time, but I expect compensation tomorrow, Howell.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You drive a hard bargain, Lester, but I think I can make it happen,” he replied with a wink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If this was the first day, Phil thought as he climbed out of the car, he couldn’t wait for tomorrow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next morning was like the first, chilly and nerve-racking. Matches started earlier in the day since another round of inspection wasn’t required. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan did bring snacks like he said he would, and gave Phil some extras when no one was looking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last half of qualification matches went down just like the day before, with a grand total of 15 wins and 1 loss. The FoxBots were ahead of the pack, which meant they got to lead the team selection for the finals. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ducky and Bry were the ones who had scouted around the other teams the whole weekend, looking for what would complement them the best and give them the highest chance of moving onto worlds in Houston. They both had conferred with Dan about who the top choices were and his thoughts on them, and after he approved, Bry made her way to the main field to represent at alliance selection.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Alliance selection was the most serious, structured part of the game. There was always a ten-minute lecture to the team leaders prior and if they failed to comply, their team would be ejected from the competition. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Most of the team stayed back and watched from live streams on various laptops and TVs around the pits. Dan huddled next to Phil’s laptop and leaned his head on his shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I really hope everyone accepts. Duck and Bry put together quite the dream team this year.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil leaned his head on top of Dan’s. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t. We’ve got the best driver in the league.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan burrowed further into Phil’s shoulder. “You’re just saying that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I never say things I don’t mean.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There wasn’t a response to that. Dan just leaned heavier on his shoulder as Bry called out the first pick on the stream. Phil wrapped his arm around Dan’s side and held him close.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It seemed like hours later when the selections were done. All of their first pick teams had agreed to go with the Foxes for their alliance. The RoboReds were chosen by the third pick team and would be against the Fox alliance in the first three matches. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A little friendly competition never hurt anyone, even if everyone knew the Foxes would ultimately move on, leaving the RoboReds out for the season. Phil knew PJ didn’t mind when it came down to it. The Reds had lots of community events planned, and most of the team looked forward to those even more than the chance at going to worlds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And as Phil predicted, the Foxes and the alliance swept the competition, leaving them to move on to semi-finals and eventually the finals. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Three teams against three teams. The winner of the best three out of five matches moved on, the other alliance stayed back in England. Tensions were high, but nerves were higher. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first match was a pretty clean run. Not many fouls for either team and everything going as planned. The live tallying of points was very close to the final score, leaving the Fox alliance up, one to zero. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In between each match was a break to regather the robots and calm the drive teams down. So far Dan and Phil had spent these drinking abnormally large amounts of water and talking with each other. They talked through the matches and what each felt could have been better and what went right. They made remarks on things that could be tinkered with if they move on, and what order those things would be fixed in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, when we get back to the shop, first things first, the bumpers need repair. Those ones look like they need a serious tune-up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Agreed. I was also thinking we need to just replace the wiring shield so we know it’s at its full integrity. I’ve seen it take a couple of hits today that probably didn’t help much.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, no kidding. I’ll have Norm check double-check all the wires before we do anything. The last thing we want is something coming loose and screwing us over.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And back and forth they went. It must’ve looked like a tennis match with how fast they processed and sent back remarks. They were operating like a machine, two parts of one whole. Phil felt like a circuit, like as if his wires had finally found the person to complete the loop and light up his LED of a brain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before they knew it, the match was back on. By now, they were tied up two to two. The winner of this match would take home the blue banner and a team ticket to Houston.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The matches only lasted three minutes at the most but it felt like hours. Gathering, shooting, spinning, and then endgame. Both teams played their hearts out. Phil didn’t dare look at the scoreboard out of fear of missing some action on the field. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then, like the sun rising on the horizon after the deepest, darkest night, it was over. Both alliances buzzed among themselves as they finally looked to the scoreboard. It was too close to tell. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dan grabbed Phil’s hand and interlocked their fingers. They were sweaty and gross, but also everything Phil needed. Phil squeezed back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, the animation began to play. Two rockets standing still. Phil prayed to Alan Turing to use his dead gay computer powers to </span>
  <em>
    <span>please let the blue alliance win</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rockets began to move.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Slowly they moved up and up and up until the smoke cleared.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One rocket had pulled ahead. The winner was obvious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The FoxBots were moving on to Houston.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The team erupted in excitement. It seemed as if the entire world was screaming in joy. Was Phil jumping up and down, or was the world spinning? Not a single thought made it through his head other than what Dan was yelling at him with the biggest grin on his face, “We did it! We’re going to worlds! Phil! We’re champions! We won!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil felt something wet slide down his cheek. When he raised his hand to his face, he found he was crying. He looked at Dan. Dan looked at him. Phil felt a hand cup his cheek.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Phil.” Dan moved closer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their noses were almost touching. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phil watched as Dan caught his breath and swallowed more air. There wasn’t enough air in the world for this moment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Phil,” he retried, “Can I kiss you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All at once, their lips collapsed together. Time stopped. They were no longer in the middle of a crowded gymnasium. They were alone in their own bubble. Spinning together into eternity. It was everything and nothing all at once. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After seconds, hours, days, or years, Dan pulled away. He smiled so big, the sun was jealous. Phil couldn’t feel his face and he couldn’t control it if he tried, but he knew his smile matched Dan’s. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were a pair once more. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And as Phil was embraced by the rest of his team, his family, he knew that this year was truly the greatest season he could ever ask for.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>reblog and say hi @ditlmanchesterbutspooky on tumblr!</p><p>the song for this chapter is True Love Waits by Radiohead</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everything that had happened still didn’t feel real. For multiple reasons. </p><p>First, the fact that both the team and the robot had somehow survived an entire weekend of nonstop competition and problem-solving and adrenaline rushes nearly unscathed. The only team injuries had been a few bruises and small cuts, but that was almost expected at this point and was much better than the alternative. The robot had a few new dents but they could be fixed and everything would be working like new in no time.</p><p>Secondly, they had pulled through and ranked first in the UK regional competition. This meant that they were the highest-ranking team in the country. Which was unfathomable to Phil that he would be a part of that.</p><p>And last but definitely not least, the kiss. The public display of affection and admiration that was both nerve-racking and calming to Phil’s core. The thing that he had anticipated would kick start whatever their relationship was into something new, unheard of, and completely theirs.</p><p>But instead, it was the thing Phil was the most unsure about. Did it even really happen? Or did Phil just conjure it up in his rush of dreams-coming-true adrenaline at the end of the match? </p><p>Ever since the moment their lips parted and their team surged around them, Dan had been acting off. He had become jolty and nervous in a way that reminded Phil of his pet rabbit from childhood. In the car after the competition, Dan wouldn’t even look at Phil and only answered him with hums or nods. For the past week, he hadn’t answered any texts and just cold shouldered Phil in class. He listened to him during robotics at least, but only in a way that was impersonal. Phil wasn’t sure what he did but they weren’t on the same page anymore and it felt terrible.</p><p>So instead of finally confronting him and asking the all-encompassing questions of, “Hey bro, did we actually like, kiss? For real? And you feel that way about me too? Or nah? Because I need to know if I’m hallucinating or not, thank you.” Phil just nodded and said he understood when Dan claimed he had homework and couldn’t hang out after robotics. Every night. For the whole week. Even though Phil knew that Dan never had homework, and if he did, he’d take it to Phil’s house to do with him since Phil took the classes the year prior. </p><p>Phil also began walking home every day. It was starting to get a little warmer now as summer slowly showed her head around the corner, but the heater was never the reason why he always got a ride. </p><p>At least it gave him time to think. His thoughts always started with the robot and the to-do list with the corresponding schedule he had duct-taped to the inside of his brain. What has been done? What needs to get done? What can wait? But like always, his thoughts began to wander. Is Dan mad at him? Was it something he said or did? Was he just that bad at kissing?</p><p>Every day it was the same, for the entire two weeks they were waiting for Houston. Until finally, the final Friday rolled around. The newly repaired robot and their supplies were already packed and waiting in the various parents’ vehicles that had volunteered to drop them off at the airport tomorrow. The team was standing around a table and Dan was going over the last minute checks they had to do. </p><p>“So when you all get home, I’d better get a text from each of you that you’re all packed and the suitcase is waiting by your door, full of deodorant, okay? Does everyone know whose car they’re taking, or do I need to send a screenshot of the spreadsheet into the group chat? Actually, don’t answer that. I know you guys. I’m going to send the screenshot.” He then began furiously typing on his phone but Phil could tell from his side of the table that Dan was only doing that because he was shaking so much and didn’t want to show it.</p><p>Suddenly, the intercom buzzed to life making everyone jump. </p><p>“Gooood afternoon, Fighting Foxes! Our very own robotics team, the FoxBots, are on their way to America tomorrow to compete in the world championships, so wish them luck! Their team is closed for new members for now but if you’re interested, there will be an interest meeting after school in the engineering room on May 28th, so mark your calendars! Have a good rest of your day and remember! Gooooo Foxes!” The announcer’s overly peppy voice combined with the crackling speakers had the entire team cringing from the sound. </p><p>But, Phil thought, at least now people at the school know that there is a team. It may not be a parade down the halls, but it was a starting place and that he could work with.</p><p>The meeting continued as usual with Dan winding it down and answering all the last-minute questions. Eventually, he got to a stopping point and let them all go. Phil began filing out with the rest of them, shrugging on his coat so he wouldn’t freeze on the walk home when a hand grasped at his elbow. </p><p>He turned around to meet Dan’s face. He looked nervous again. He always looked nervous lately.</p><p>“Would you, uh, mind sticking around for a second?”</p><p>Phil looked back at everyone else walking towards the front of the school and then down at his earbuds in his hand. He was going to listen to a new album on the way home today.</p><p>“Yeah,” Phil gave Dan a half-smile, “no problem.”</p><p>Dan shyly smiled back and went to turn the lights off and lock up. It took less than a minute before he was already back at the door where Phil stood.</p><p>“Um, do you have a ride home today?” Dan tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear and looked at their feet. He had been growing his hair out lately and Phil thought Dan’s long curls were just about the prettiest thing he had ever seen.</p><p>“No, I don’t actually.” Dan looked back up at him. Phil could almost see the words clinging to his tongue, refusing to leave. It was almost painful how hard it had become for them to talk, when before the words flowed like a river. “Are you offering?” he asked. Even though Dan had been a dick to him the past week or so, he still needed to get home. And the quickest way to do that was to end this horrendously awkward conversation in one way or another.</p><p>“Yes! I’ll drive you home!” He paused and turned somehow an even deeper red. “I mean- if that’s what you- if you’re ok with that.”</p><p>“Yes, Dan. I’m definitely ok with not freezing my ass off in the cold while I spend a half-hour walking home.”</p><p>Dan’s mouth rose to show a hint of a smile. “It takes you 30 minutes to walk home? To your house, that’s maximum, 10 minutes away?”</p><p>“Shut up, Howell. Maybe some of us like to appreciate the view walking home. And by view, I mean watch the caterpillars cross the sidewalk.”</p><p>Dan just smiled a rosy smile and shook his head. It broke Phil’s heart a little.</p><p>They stood there for a moment before Phil broke the silence. “Well, let’s get going. I’ve got a bag to pack, haven’t I?”</p><p>“I suppose you do.”</p><p>They walked back to Dan’s car in awkward synchrony. Dan’s hand was just swinging there for holding but Phil didn’t want to scare him away again.</p><p>They hopped into their respective sides and buckled their seatbelts. The silence between them, while Dan maneuvered out of the lot, was deafening. </p><p>Then Dan swallowed, so obviously desperate to end the tension, and blurted out, “Can you drive? I’ve never heard you talk about having a license or anything. And I’ve seen your mum drops you off in the mornings.” His hands tapped frantically to a beat against the steering wheel. His legs were visibly bouncing. </p><p>Where Phil was defeated, confused, and hurt, Dan was on the other side, frantic, worried, and anxious out of his mind. They were two halves once again, but this time, in the worst way possible.</p><p>“Legally speaking, I can drive. In every other sense of the word however, not really.”</p><p>“That bad, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah. One time I actually ran into our old house. The dent is still there, actually. Needless to say, I’m not exactly allowed to drive.”</p><p>“How did your parents survive while rasing you? Poor Kath has probably had years shaved off her lifespan.”</p><p>“That’s not even the worst of it. Have I told you about how when I was, like, five, that I used to stand at the end of my parents’ bed and watch them sleep at night?”</p><p>Dan looked over at Phil with wide eyes. Then his expression broke and he began laughing. “Phil Lester, you’re a cryptid.”</p><p>“Thank you. I try.”</p><p>The car pulled up to Phil’s house. Whatever ice had been broken in the last couple of minutes was once again frozen solid. </p><p>“D’you want to come inside and hang out for a few? My parents are working late today so the only thing on my schedule is a five hour Buffy marathon. I can pencil you in though, if you want?” </p><p>Dan looked down. “My dad actually wanted me to come home right after school. I don’t think I could get out of it.”</p><p>“Oh. That’s alright. Next time, maybe?”</p><p>“Yeah. Next time for sure.”</p><p>“Alright. See you tomorrow, Dan.”</p><p>“See you, Phil.”</p><p>And with that, Phil walked away. Unsure of everything now, more so than he had been.</p><p> </p><p><br/>Dan.<br/>Can you come over right now?<br/>I need you.<br/>(Read 11:40)</p><p>are you in your room</p><p>Yeah.<br/>(Read 11:45)</p><p>k omw</p><p> </p><p>Dan would be here soon. Now Phil’s only job is to wait and try not to explode.</p><p>It had finally hit him, about ten minutes ago, that they were actually going to the world competition. They would be against the best of the best. They would be against teams that had turned robotics into their entire life. Some of these teams were over a decade old with people from actual NASA as their mentors and alumni. A handful of these teams were so exclusive, you had to pay thousands of dollars to even show up at the meetings. There was no way their team, a handful of average kids from an average town in England, could even compare to what the other teams had in store. There was no way a victory would be possible, instead, they would just end up embarrassing themselves in front of the giant guest list of amazing individuals and leaders of the tech world.</p><p>Not even five minutes later, there was tapping against Phil’s window from the outside. It was so sudden and unexpected that he jumped from where he was waiting on the corner of his bed and dropped his phone. Slowly, Phil walked over towards the window. Maybe it was the tree tapping with the rain and wind. Maybe it was a figment of Phil’s anxiety-driven imagination. </p><p>Whatever it was, it tapped again. More insistent this time. Less like a tree and more like something else. Something human. But Dan would’ve used the door like a normal person… right?</p><p>Phil pulled back the curtain. Squatting on a branch, was a soaking wet, terrified Dan. </p><p>Phil shoved open the window and pulled Dan inside. The moment he was safely standing on Phil’s carpet creating a damp spot that he knew his mum would berate him about later, Phil tackled Dan with a hug.</p><p>After a few seconds, Phil shoved him back and began to whisper shout, “What the hell were you thinking Daniel? That branch could have snapped! You could have died!”</p><p>A moment passed where the only sounds in the world were the raindrops pelting the window. </p><p>Dan just looked at his feet and shrugged. “I missed you… I was worried. I couldn’t wait another minute… I’m sorry.”</p><p>Phil stepped forward and closed the distance between them. </p><p>He grabbed onto Dan’s upper arm and slowly brushed his fingers over the small spattering of freckles. </p><p>“I- I missed you too. A lot.” Dan finally met Phil’s eyes. </p><p>The world shrank to the two of them again. </p><p>Dan glanced towards Phil’s lips and Phil’s tounge darted out to wet them. </p><p>Every moment between them felt like years. </p><p>Phil had to end it. One way or another. </p><p>“Dan. Can I-”</p><p>And then, before he could finish his thought, Dan’s lips were on his. Finally. Where they belong. </p><p>He was acutely aware of the other things happening in the room, Dan’s giant hands gently cupping his face, the water from Dan’s hair running down his forehead, in his eyes, down his cheek but he didn’t care about any of it. All he cared about was keeping Dan right here, smushed against him where he belonged.</p><p>And there they were for a while. Bridging the gap between them one moment at a time. </p><p>Eventually, slowly, they moved over to lay nose to nose on Phil’s bed. The ice that had frozen them apart melted one word at a time.</p><p>“Do you need a change of clothes? You’ve got to be freezing.” Phil slowly ran his fingers through Dan’s half wet hair, careful of any knots. </p><p>“I wouldn’t complain if you did. You still have my robotics hoodie and I couldn’t find anything else fast enough to wear.” He tugged on Phil’s sleeve. </p><p>Phil looked down and blushed when he realized he was wearing Dan’s hoodie. “Oops. I forgot I stole it. Do you want it back? Or…?”</p><p>“Keep it. It looks better on you than it did me. Plus, it’s more fair that way. I get a peice of you to walk around with and so do you.” He leaned forward again and pecked Phil on the lips. </p><p>Phil’s eyes fluttered closed and he could do nothing but smile. “How are you the sweetest person alive?”</p><p>“It’s from hanging around you. You’re rubbing off on me, I used to be evil y’know.”</p><p>“Oh, I’m sure.” Phil carefully climbed so he was on his elbows on top of Dan. “Evil. Genius. Horribly attractive. Soft hair. The prettiest eyes,” he said, kissing a different part of his face with every word. “You have it all, really.”</p><p>Now it was Dan’s turn to blush as Phil got up to find him something warm.</p><p>“You’re staying the night, right? I don’t want you going back into the rain and getting sick before everything next week.” </p><p>“Yeah. I’ll stay, if that’s ok with you.”</p><p>“More than ok, trust me,” Phil replied bringing back a pair of pajama pants and his (now second) favorite hoodie. “What about your parents? Do they know you’re here?”</p><p>They switched spots as Dan began to leave to get changed in the bathroom. Dan rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, not exactly.” He saw Phil’s concerned expression. “Hey. It’s fine. I left a note. That’s all they need. They can know where I am if they want to know. I’m going to go get changed and out of these clothes.” He quickly left and Phil was alone again.</p><p>Dan obviously wasn’t ready to talk about it, so Phil wouldn’t push it. </p><p>By the time Dan came back, Phil was laying in bed, playing on his phone with the lights off. Dan carefully resumed their positions from earlier and caught Phil in another kiss. </p><p>“Do you want to talk about why you wanted me to come over?”</p><p>Talking about his feelings was one of Phil’s least favorite activities. “I guess. I was just feeling anxious about how on earth we’re going to make it through this competition. It just seems so much bigger than all of us.”</p><p>“I think about that too. Sometimes, I think you just have to have a little faith. We’ve done the best we can and that’s all we can do. No matter what, we’ll still have each other and that’s the most important thing.”</p><p>“Yeah… you’re right. I’m so glad I have all of you. The foxes feel like family, I don’t know what I would have done without you guys.”</p><p>“Trust me. We feel the same way about you.”</p><p>The room fell into silence once again. The rain kept pelting against the window creating a hamony with the beat of their hearts.</p><p>“Dan, what happened these last two weeks? You haven’t been able to even look me in the eyes.” Phil was doing it. Ripping the last piece of ice between them and throwing it far into the fire.</p><p>Dan sighed a shakey breath and rubbed his face. “I was scared. There’s nothing more to it than that. Our friendship had been the best thing to ever happen to me and I risked losing it so fast… I just needed to step back and take a breath. For you and for me. The last thing I want to do is go too fast and scare you away. I’ve always liked you, from even before the moment you fell into my arms on that first day. That summer after we met, I thought about you every day and what I’d say to you if I ever found you again.”</p><p>Phil reached forward and held Dan’s face. “I’ve always liked you too. I couldn’t help myself honestly. But Dan, I need you to understand that telling me what’s going on in that brain of yours is always infinitely better than running away and keeping it to yourself. I love this, the thing that’s going on between us, and I <em>need</em> to know where you stand so I can make sure you’re having a good time too, alright?” He kissed Dan’s forehead softly. “I really care about you and I just want to make sure you’re ok.”</p><p>Dan sniffed and reached up to wipe his eye. “I can do that. Ok.”</p><p>“Amazing, just like you. Let’s go to bed. We have quite the day tomorrow, don’t we?”</p><p>“Yeah. Goodnight Phil.”</p><p>“Goodnight, Dan.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>come say hi on tumblr @ditlmanchester :)<br/>chapter song: I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading my very first fic ever!<br/>Come find me on tumblr @ditlmanchester!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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